Saturday, June 25th

[chuckok]

Ward has thr right idea ... Really light and West for WS. I'm going for Blue Sky to redeem my uot landing from last weekend.

[carweill]

I'm going flying today

I favor Pulpit right now, but given the response so far I'll decide where when I leave

Carlos

[sailin]

Amy and I are headed to the Pulpit. ETA around 3pm. Considering camping up top and maybe catching an early Sunday morning flight too.

Jon

[rasmussenv]

Just talked to Ward - he's on the road to Pulpit now. I'm loaded and about to head out. Until others show up we may take turns launching and retrieving each other, but others would be welcome to join! Hope to see great conditions!

[carweill]

Heading to Pulpit

Carlos

[mingram]

5-10 at Dickey's with 14 mph gusts. A little switchy.

[uplandann]

Pulpit is looking better of the two, however, I'm going over to WS to check out primary LZ, and maybe if it looks good enough around 6pm or 7p, get a flight off, i.e.,if observer present. ETA 4pm Just don't have two days to burn, or pet sitter right now to make it to Pulpit.

540 414 4550

~Ann

[mingram]

Peter and I both got over an hour flight at Dickey's. it's still soarable, but we're headed home.

[rasmussenv]

Long Day! At home 13 hours and 250 miles after leaving, I am SOOOOO glad it was not for naught … and that was in question at times.

Arrived at Pulpit about noon to find Ward and Carlos chagrined. Not only had there been a sprinkle or two, but there were dark clouds at places on the horizon. And, ?worse?, while the winds were coming in nicely straight into launch, a weather station in the valley near the LZ’s indicated that the wind there was South!! Which would mean (we – perhaps erroneously - concluded) that there would not be good ridge lift for soaring.

I said I’d be fine with a sled run, and we three went to the valley to verify conditions and drop a car. I set a wind sock in the secondary I’d need if it was to be a sled run, and confirmed the wind was solidly south. I left my vehicle there and they picked me up after checking out the primary.

Back at the top Carlos and I set up. He was up for a sled, figuring we’d get another flight later. The winds were steady, but we saw what looked like possible rain clouds in the distance. We stood around a watched and while no rain came, the winds picked up a bit. About this time Bacil showed up, it was now about 2:30. He said the south on the LZ was irrelevant with regard to ridge lift at our altitude – it was clearly coming in NW at launch. We finally launched Carlos to test it out. He took off from the ramp – was virtually lifted off it. I could see that it seemed a bit much of a headwind for me to face in my falcon. He had a soaring flight – around a half-hour. Jon and Amy had arrived by now, and picked up Carlos while Bacil and Ward set up. Amy measured 15-20 mph winds. Christopher ? arrived with a Falcon. Bacil and Ward launched from the pad with only a step or two and soared and soared and soared and soared. Early on, Bacil reported some turbulence. After an hour or so, Ward disappeared – we concluded he’d chosen to go over the back. It was now about 5pm, I saw that Bacil (in an Eagle) seemed to be finding widespread lift and no real issues penetrating, and I felt that conditions on launch had a few calmer cycles and I wanted to GO!

Amy, Jon and Christopher assisted me in launch. I went from the pad rather than the ramp, a first for me. Another first for me was realizing that there was no point in waiting for my wing-men to report neutral. They both kept reporting up, so I set down a time or two, growing tired as I waited for them to report neutral. Learning moment! Eventually they helped me to ‘get it’! I’d never had that situation before. As long as the wings were level, it was okay that they were both feeling up. And once that light went on, I stood up, got their input that they were simultaneously feeling up, cleared and took no more than a couple steps before I was being smoothly lifted! And there was bountiful lift and beautiful conditions! I generally was at trim in abundant lift – and at trim I was never being pushed back – penetration was not an issue at all.

Bacil and I flew together for 30 minutes or so, then he headed out to land at a golf course. Christopher took off and we flew together for at least 30-45 minutes before he landed. I got as high as 800 over launch a couple times, and had no problem staying a couple hundred over launch. It was so ‘easy’ that I ‘decided’ to aim for 2 hours, but soon after I was so presumptuous as to think that I found that instead of relatively constant lift, there were beginning to be periods of sink and less abundant lift. I slowly lost altitude, dipping below ridge level and realizing I needed to get to the LZ. I could easily have made the primary earlier in my flight, but since my car was at the secondary, I had stayed around the launch area and headed for the secondary once I was about 200’ below ridge level.

I came to the field mid-way and was surprised to see that the streamer indicated the winds were now from the North …. I could have turned either way to do the DBF from that mid-field point. The winds were light, so I ended up deciding, since the field was uphill, to take my ‘usual’ approach to the south and it worked out fine – I landed and stopped before the crest, but clearly the flare was not strong enough, so even with running several steps couldn’t QUITE get the wing stopped before the nose hit the ground. Not hard – all was well. I SHOULD have come into the wind I know. If I had it to do again, I’d like to say that I would. It was find only because the winds were so light – and were totally calm within minutes. It was now about 6:45pm.

In any case! I had a 1hr 31minute flight! My first soaring flight at Pulpit. And my first soaring flight of 2011 (and it is already SUMMER! boy – this has been a tough year so far).

When I had been on launch about to go my phone had rung – not the time to answer it! – turns out it had been Ward. He ended up calling Carlos who retrieved him. After I landed Jon took off around 7pm, and he was above the ridge for a short time. He didn’t land at the secondary and was not at the primary when I drove by it. When I got back up top, Amy had repacked her glider, Bacil wanted her to wait until the morning to fly, and she was heading out to retrieve Jon, who had chosen to land at the golf course Bacil had used. She and Jon had a tent set up and would be staying the night, as was Carlos. Bacil was heading home, with plans to return in the AM to observe Jon and Amy.

So – Pulpit worked out great – and I’m glad I got a chance to have a nice soaring flight there.

[jyoder111]

Sounds like a good time! Congrats

-Jesse

[XCanytime]

Valerie did such a great job describing the flights yesterday that I don't have anything to add. Carlos, Jon, Amy, and I hit the Main Street Pizza restaurant in Mercersburg for some chow before they closed at 10P. The pizza was delicious after a great day of flying. Heading back today to try again. Congratulations Valerie on a "breakout" flight at the Pulpit. Bacil

[deveil]

woo hoo Va-la-REE!

[Joe Schad]

A frustrating day at Woodstock but not without some final reward. Pete and I arrived around 1240 to find Eric(from Richmond) with Falcon and Dave a PG pilot already to fly. Winds were west/south cross with overcast. This remained until nearly 4 when Dave finally got a launch cycle and sleded. Eric went a little later in a light cycle and got an extendo. Laslo and Randy showed up around 5-6. Pete launched around 6:20 after a long wait. We almost bagged it around 6 because of the switchy conditions with some gusts. Winds finally started to trend northwest with some straight in cycles. I followed twenty minutes later with Laslo and Randy behind me. Air turned out to be amazingly smooth with a lot of light lift. Pete and I landed about 7;30 in the main LZ. Grass is still high. The farmer said he is waiting for things to dry out a little before cutting the hay.

Joe

[Ward Odenwald]

Good day at the Pulpit. Still smiling! Here are some photos to add to Valerie's write up. Ward

[Ward Odenwald]

Last set of pics.

[chuckok]

Congrats to everyone who had the opportunity to soar!

BlueSky ended up being more overcast than predicted, shutting down the thermal activity. But, a good day for landing practice. Finding that work on an authoritative, no step fare could still use some work.

Looking forward to the next trip out!

[sailin]

Great pics Ward!! Like Bacil said, Valerie did a great job describing the day...so not much more to add. Had a beautiful evening soaring flight. Hung out at between 300-500 over the ridge for a bit and then went on a nice long glide to the Golf Course. Super fun long glide !! had a nice landing on a fairway at the mostly deserted course.
Went for some good pizza and beer with Amy, Bacil and Carlos and then headed back to our home for the night in the Pulpit set up area. Beautiful clear evening....stars everywhere! Crawled into the tent and was probably asleep within about 10 minutes

[XCanytime]

Wave cloud in the valley at the end of the day.