Sunday Ridgely

John Simon · Post by **John Simon** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 12:40 pm

Big crew on a Sunday that looked very promising on paper... Heather and I
showed up early and she got in 4 pattern tows on her new (mostly) and very
tiny falcon. She is liking that glider and it her I think. All four of her
flights were significant improvements for her as her approaches are really
solidifying and the landings on wheels are all getting very smooth.
Later in the day, about 20 gliders were in line but the sky looked only
mediocre... The XC gurus setup a triangle but me and Ric N. were intent on
the beach as we both had plans to go there anyway with the ladies later in
the day. What better way than to fly... but the sky did not look too
promising. Ric got up 35 mins before me and was gone after struggling to
around 4500 or 5k. I didn't see him again until dinner. I got airborne at
about 3:45 and struggled for 10 mins up to about 3300 or so, very wide but
broken weak lift. Then I found it... 3-400 up and nice up to 5500 or so.
Fiddling with my GPS and radio I climbed to around 5500 with a couple
gliders gaining on me from below (Mark C? ). I took off as this was much
better than I had hoped. LONG, long glides between lift and right down to
2000 or so... found another and it too was wide and weak... Got to 2500 and
lost it... moved on and found some birds and drifted with them and got a
good climb at 4-500 fpm to 5000 or so! Sweet... LOng glide again and down
to 7-800' and some more birds... 10 minutes of 50 fpm and I'm around 1300 or
so... and I found the sweet spot... 600 on the averager (15s) for a long,
long time and never below 400 or maybe 500 for the whole ride to 6100 feet.
Wow... I can see Dewey now and I'm cold and stinkin' high.

A couple more long glides, some 3-500 min climbs and then the final glide
put me on the ground 16.8 miles short of Dewey and 30.5 miles down range
from RDG. Heather is on her way, not so much to get me but to get to the
beach. I talk her into the 10 minute diversion and we head out to Rehobeth.
Ric did 31.5 just to piss me off and we met up in Rehobeth for dinner and a
margarita or 2. Even better, I stuck the tab on Ric!! Great night with
the Neihaus clan and Sheila and Heather. Not a bad way to go to the beach
or close to it...

John

Post by **mcelrah** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:22 pm

John,???? This beach trip is getting to be a habit with you.? I hope to tag along someday.? (Spent a long weekend in Garrett County with the family mountain biking and waterskiing - saw a bear!? and a fox!)? Congratulations! - Hugh

On 25 Jul 2005, at 12:40, John Simon wrote:

broken weak lift.? Then I found it... 3-400 up and nice up to 5500 or so.

John Simon · Post by **John Simon** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:36 am

Yeah,

I'm partial to beach tries because I know there's beer there.
Unfortunately, it's only true if you make it... I had to wait a little while
after coming up short. What fun it was trying though, and the belated beer
was delicious.

John

-----Original Message-----
From: mcelrah@verizon.net [mailto:mcelrah@verizon.net]
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2005 10:23 PM
To: hg_forum@chgpa.org
Subject: Re: Sunday Ridgely

John,???? This beach trip is getting to be a habit with you.? I hope to tag
along someday.? (Spent a long weekend in Garrett County with the family
mountain biking and waterskiing - saw a bear!? and a fox!)?
Congratulations! - Hugh

On 25 Jul 2005, at 12:40, John Simon wrote:

Quote:

broken weak lift.? Then I found it... 3-400 up and nice up to 5500 or so.
(end of quote)