Woodstock on Sunday 8/28

[silverwings]

Some of the forecasts look promising. Lets see what develops.

[sailin]

I am in for a late afternoon/early evening flight. Looking like it could be nice!!!

Jon

[CraginS]

What are the current LZ options?
Bull in the main?
Corn in the bridge field?

[XCanytime]

I'm in for it too. LZ worries? There are no worries since the probability of soaring is 100%. Plenty of better LZs dot the dragstrip between Signal Knob and the Edinburg Gap. Bacil

[markc]

Add me to the list of those keeping an eye on post-Irene conditions.... I'm not sure that the 'Woodstock Effect'
necessarily applies on the backside of a hurricane, but it might be worth a gamble, depending on how quickly
it moves on out and how quickly the winds drop.

MarkC

[jyoder111]

I'm interested. Will watch this thread...

Jesse

[silverwings]

Regarding the bull in the LZ: Mark and Valerie landed there during the week and there were no issues then though they did not see the cattle. The tennant indicated the bull was friendly but not what Ellis encountered!

[rasmussenv]

Of course, some 'friendly' dogs can be pretty intimidating when they are enthusiastic about getting to you to meet! So I can imagine I would not be happy about a bull trotting over to check me out!

But as we posted, the field JUST beyond and slightly to the left (as approaching from the launch) of the primary is nice and large - at least as 'long' and has an uphill gradient (away from the launch) and nice grass and seems suitable - just make sure you land in the early part of the field as there are power lines crossing it towards the top. Plenty of room before that point, and contour of land should make it easy to be on the ground before getting that far.

[markc]

I would take the "don't worry, he's friendly" with a very large grain of salt, based on Ellis' experience.
Current casts imply that conditions might be ok at Woodstock by around 4 or 5pm, let's hope that holds
overnight!

[jyoder111]

I'm seeing very strong winds aloft till way into the evening(after dark) and a heavy north component. What is everyone thinking?

Jesse

[markc]

Things that have got me a little optimistic are: a) NWS hourly surf forecast dropping to NW@11 at 6pm; b) ADDS 3k forecast remaining NW@20-30 in northern VA from 4pm to 8pm, with a hint of a drop-off at 8pm (and maybe slightly NNW). Under normal conditions, I'd look at that and figure the drive out would be worth the risk of not being able to fly.

That said, the drop-off for the surface cast was at 3pm as of last night's forecast, and it's now been pushed back to 6pm. Regardless of what happens, it seems likely that any flying would be at the very end of the day.

Where are you seeing the strong north component Jesse?

MarkC

[XCanytime]

The surface winds are predicted to abate back to NW at 14 MPH at 6P and NW at 11 MPH at 7P. I'm willing to take a look. ETA 3P. Bacil

[jyoder111]

MarkC, by "strong north component" I mean on nostepper its more NNW than WNW. I'm not seeing straight north anywhwere, and it does look more WNW toward the end of the day.

[silverwings]

Still have some interest though the forecast has fairly strong winds at altitude. Looks like the Irene is moving very fast to the North which makes me think it might quiet down (even at altitude) sooner then the prediction. Will post my intentions before 1:00 pm. (202)409-2574 c

[markc]

I'm going to head out as well, unless the forecasts change significantly between now and 2pm.

[markc]

Hitting the road in the next half hour. I can be reached at 301-807-5414 if anyone wants to drop a vehicle in the LZ.

MarkC

[silverwings]

Think I will give it a try also. Leaving around 1:30 with ETA of LZ about 3:10 PM

[jyoder111]

Still looks too strong to me. I'm going to sit this one out. Good luck to those who are going! Let us know how it went.

Jesse

[sailin]

I'm on the way.....after Irene delays (boat sitting on the chesapeake)......my ETA is 430-5 on launch.

Just got report from Bacil...he is on launch and says it is sweet. 8-12 with some 15.

See you there!

Jon

[XCanytime]

O ye of little faith . Woodstock was as sweet as it could be, considering that Irene was here just a day ago. I got to launch at 2:30P and it was perfect. Hell, PGers could've launched, it was that nice. Set up and waited for John Middleton and Mark Cavanaugh to arrive. It was nice up until when they got to launch at 4P. At this time it got moderately strong but nothing outrageous for HGers. I promptly launched at 4:10P into soft lift right out in front. Got a couple hundred over and headed north to Signal Knob to intercept some nice looking clouds up there. Maxed out at 1100' over but didn't find anything worthwhile up there. Headed back SW to intercept some clouds down by the Edinburg Gap. On the way there a mature bald eagle flew under me between me and the ridge. I whipped the glider around, turned the camera on, but he was out of decent picture range quickly. They fly fast. Got down to Waonaze Peak and buoyed up to 1100' over in front of the west facing part of the ridge below the Peak. Hung around there looking for a decent climb, but found none. Headed back to launch and buzzed the tower to the delight of a few spectators in the tower. Yelled down to Jon Brantley that I would hang around and watch him self launch. Plenty of soft lift out in front of the slot allowed me to figure 8 for 15 minutes while Jon prepared to launch. He had a good one so I called it a day and went in to land in the dead calm of the main LZ after 2.5 hours in the air. Flare was not quick enough in the zero wind so I had to run a few steps. A pilot named Andrew who flies at Blue Sky showed up as I was breaking down. He was at the fair being held in Woodstock and saw us flying and decided to come out. Chuck O'Keefe came in to land a few minutes later, overshot the crest, flared just before the gate, held the flare, and came down hard since it is downhill from the crest to the gate. Unfortunately he broke his leg just above the ankle. I quickly dialed 911 and requested the appropriate resources. Jon Brantley, thank goodness, landed just minutes later and used his EMT skills to assess the situation. The remaining pilots that flew all landed in the next hour: Randy Weber, John, and Mark, who landed at sunset. Chuck was taken to the local hospital in Woodstock. Jon and I were hungry so we found a pizza joint that was open to 11P on Rt. 11 outside of Strasburg. You don't know if you don't go. Bacil

[silverwings]

Too add to what Bacil said, it was quite mild in the air. Amazing since we all expected stronger conditions but encountered none of it! Pg's could have flown probably without problems late in the day. I launched at 5:25 PM and flew just over 2 hours and the best thermal I found got me to 2,700 above which was still atleast 500+ below the clouds. Mostly ridge lift with some mild thermals. My guess is Irene moved so quickly north and Woodstock being to the west we just didn't get any of it's influence in the late afternoon.

[sailin]

Got there later than I wanted to do to storm sitting the boat on the chesapeake.......but things were still happening when I arrived and I had a very nice evening flight.
I was last one on the mountain and found myself in a self launch situation. Hadn't done one yet but I knew it would happen at some point. Conditions were appropriate for it and I felt good about having Bacil hovering over in the air above. I did two full hang checks, moved into the slot, did another full hang check, picked a cycle and was off. Had a nice launch in smooth ridge lift and found some mild thermals further down the ridge. Had a blast at about 800' over just cruising up the ridge to the SW and then ripping down the ridge downwind to the north. Played with some VG settings. Super fun!!! Headed in after about 45 minutes and a sun that was moving lower and lower in the sky. I had seen Chuck land and it was clear that he had come in high and overshot the crest but I had no idea at the time that he had a hard landing. From the sky it looked like he had put it down without incident JUST BEFORE the gate.
I had a decent no wind landing but had to run it out several steps...not a fast enough, crisp enough, soon enough flare. Once I carried my glider over to the gate I saw Chuck laying on his side still in harness and Bacil there with him. Bacil quickly informed me of what happened and that 911 had already been notified. I unsuited and went over to check on Chuck. All things considered he was doing quite well. After some info gathering, a quick assessment of his injuries, and the medic unit was there shortly after. Get well soon Chuck!!!
All in all a really nice evening flight, especially following all the boat related stress the storm had caused me. Unfortunate ending to find an injured pilot in the LZ but I think he will recover fine and hopefully be in the air soon enough.
Bacil and I inhaled some food and sucked down some beers at a pizza joint in strausburg...the only one open at that time............thank god for them.....we were starving!!!!

Jon

[jyoder111]

Glad it worked out and you all got to fly!

Ouch, Chuck! Sorry to hear about the injury. Let us know how you're doing and what we can do to help!

Jesse

[deveil]

well, as they say, any landing you can walk away from… err, hmmm, let’s see, hmmm... ... any landing you can limp away from is pretty much, you know, i mean you'll be walking soon right?
heal fast Chuck.

[chuckok]

It was a beautiful day to fly ... not so much on landing.

Surgery last night a plate and a pin. Three months till the hardware comes out. And, a long road of PT.

Thanks to everyone for your help!