Woodstock, Monday, 12/26

[hang_pilot]

Twas the day after Christmas...

Is anyone free to fly tomorrow? It looks like a good Woodstock day. I'm up for the chase if I'll have company. Post up.

Merry Christmas!

Daniel
301-275-6584

[Ward Odenwald]

I'm in, ETA ~9 AM. Ward

[mcgowantk]

I am in too albeit later than 9:00. I am hoping for 10:30 but won't know for sure til tomorrow morning.

[sailin]

I'm in. Trying for a 930ish ETA.

Jon

[mercury]

Id like to fly! Ward could you observe me ( Matt ) I can meet you there at 9 thanks in advance 7038623327

[guy didier]

HI, thinking of coming from DC. I've never been to the site. Is it a drive up with a regular car?

[carweill]

Yes, you can make it with a regular car. The last portion is a narrow dirt road.

I plan to go, hopefully I won't be the last one to show up

Carlos

[XCanytime]

No worries Carlos. I will be showing up at 10A to help launches and drive retrieves. Bacil

[mcgowantk]

I plan to go to Woodstock - but it is too late for Ward to read this!

Tom McGowan
703-501-9532

[Bob Peterman]

See you there at 9:00. Ward can you observe agian. Bob Peterman 703-657-9333

[g.sessa]

Count me in.... ETA 9:30ish

[carweill]

Heading to Woodstock

Carlos

[carweill]

Blown launch

Today I made multiple mistakes in just a few seconds. A few people were in the air and conditions were light with a few cycles in between.
I got ready to launch and waited for a cycle, probably around 3mph.
Clear, started with a high AOA did not commit an aggressive run and expected to be airborne. Not surprisingly was not flying. To make it worse I try to clear the trees by pushing out. Probably at that point the wing boomerang into the rocks below.
Once impact was imminent I let go of everything.
Luckily I was able to walk away from it.
Some damage to the glider, but I believe fixable.

Many thanks to Bacil, Dan and Joe for helping put away the wreckage

Carlos

[jyoder111]

Glad you're ok, Carlos! Were you hurt? Sorry to hear about the incident.

Jesse

[Ward Odenwald]

Also had a scary takeoff today (dodging rocks and trees) and believe that the light and variable winds in the slot significantly reduced the margin for error. Ward

[markc]

Very glad that you sound relatively unscathed Carlos, hopefully nothing more than scrapes and bruises, to either you *or* your glider! Bummer

[DanTuck]

I was really glad to see you get up and wave immediately that you were okay. From behind your right wire I saw pretty much the same thing you describe. I can think of only one other thing to add. You were ground skimming down the slot as you left the ground when your left wing got lifted. That caused the right wing to drop and since you were so close to the ground it clipped the large boulder not far down the slot. It didn't just scrape but smacked hard enough to yaw the whole glider to the right and stop that wing from flying. The left wing accelerated and from there, like you said, it just boomeranged around into the hill. I saw the left wing get lifted on a number of launches today.

After we got Carlos packed up I went and checked out launch. It was real light but coming straight in at that point so I decided to suit up and give it a shot. Had to wait on launch for a 2 mph cycle, ran hard and turned right. At that point there was no ridge lift whatsoever. I cruised over to the finger North of launch and followed it out hoping for something to kick off of it. Sure enough I found it and from about 400' below launch I climbed out to 1,800' over. Flew over launch a few times until I started sinking out again and went to land. As I got over the field I saw everyone pulling away to get their vehicles and just then got a few beeps. So I hooked it and climbed out again from about 500' over the field up to 1,500' over launch. That would be the end of my lift for the day though. I sped past launch one time and headed out. Once over the main field, I could see there was no one there I headed over to the bridge field to land where Ward and Tom were.

Big thanks to Bacil for coming out just to help and for driving my truck down. Really glad you're alright Carlos!

[mercury]

Glad your ok Carlos! I didn't see any bad launches. I launched into light winds after Bob. I made a few passes over the launch gaining some altitude in light ridge lift. Flew to strasburg res, was cool to see the small lake atop the mtns and the town of strasburg from above. As I flew in these light conditions I started to wonder how my first out and back would turn out. Thought I saw a general decline in the height of the ridge closer to the point and judged my height- wind strength sufficeint to attempt and make it to the lake . Turn back and began scratching for the first time hah. Thought it was due to the lower mtns worked along way back but was getting low so I came out some and crossed a couple arms with some added height then worked what meager lift was there I saw then I had one more arm to cross to make it to the lz with a little luck and a little lift il complete my first out and back! I cut diagonally back to the ridge nursing a tiny thermal up up yes I'm going to do it! The lift coughs and dies out! So close but too low! I bank away knowing I'm now going to need a feild on this bend of the river valley saw a nice feild and should have gone for it then another with a ton of cows ruled that out hah cost of needs high then I spotted a feild much like the lz but smaller and being comfortable with it thought it my best bet short approach base and little long on final but fast came in a little hot and long crested a knoll decided to put it down and drag feet! Wahoo! Thrift soaring flights of an hour third week in a row! First out and back hah almost! And first landing out! Had a blast. Nice day . Thanks Ward Bacil

[deveil]

It's a weird feeling when you're running down a slot and you realize your wing isn't lifting. brrrrrrr
However, it sure is an uplifting feeling when you realize that, even though you didn't fly away, you're going to walk away.
Glad that someone i know was the beneficiary one of those christmas miracles i'm always hearing about.

gary

[deveil]

and oh yeah, you know what they say, any landing you can walk away from is a good landing!

[Dave Proctor]

Glad you are OK Carlos. Woodstock is a deceptively shallow slope, with very little room before you start tiptoeing over rocks. I really hate light wind launches there. Maybe when spring comes we can have a work party to extend the running room.

[hosseinghazvini]

Glade you are ok carlos.

[hosseinghazvini]

Damm, I meant glad

[Dan T]

Sorry to hear it Carlos. I'm glad you are ok and I hope you are able to shake it off and get back on that horse when the time is right for you. Most everybody who goes through an incident like this engages in a period of reflection and self doubt. Most of the reflection is healthy, the self doubt isn't. We are all human.

I'm with Dave Proctor on the Woodstock launch. It's shallower than it looks and it's not light wind friendly for a HG. Small errors that would be forgiven elsewhere get amplified quickly there.

[g.sessa]

Sorry to hear about the launch Carlos, but definitely glad you’re ok…. That’s what matters most!!!

And a special thanks to Bacil for heading out to Woodstock and lending a hand to all the pilots launching, and also for running a shuttle toward the end of the day! It was a very big help!

I started with the first flight of the day, and I too found conditions deceptively light during take off. The wind was blowing staight in, but I was still running when I normally would be lifting off the ground. I had to put in quite a few extra steps, but was able to get flying all pull away with no problems. I then moved down the ridge toward the first northern finger and found this to be the best lift, which seemed to be on all day. I picked up altitude and started cruising the ridge. I started toward Signal Knob, but along the way found a lot of noticiable sink several fingers down the ridge. With the lift proving not so reliable all along the ridge and the obvious sink making me a bit nervous, I decided to head back toward launch where I spent the balance of my flight. I landed after about an hour long flight and after topping out at about 1,800 over. I found the most challenging part of the flight was heading in to land. It took me awhile to bleed off altitude, even while lingering over the valley. Then as I got lower and lower, I found the air to get more and more rowdy. I was definitely getting pushed around a bit, but managed to keep control of glider throughout the approach. I was then met with a good head wind on final that helped slow the momentum, and pulled off a no step landing. It was great weather for the end of December and overall a very nice flight!