Diaper Party at the Pulpit, Saturday, 1/7

[hang_pilot]

Charlotte and I are expecting a baby boy on 1/18, so after Saturday I'm going to begin a temporary break from slipping the surly bonds. Pulpit looks like the call for my final prenatal flight: WNW 10, high temp near 50. After flying, I'll be drinking something from a bottle and you can bet it won't be milk. Hope to see everyone there.

~Daniel
301.275.6584

P.S. A diaper party is the male version of a baby shower usually in the style of a bachelor party.

[jyoder111]

Shweet!

Jesse

[Ward Odenwald]

Congratulations Charlotte! HG pilots make great fathers but watch out for the cloud-streets cause they will always be his Sirens. Ward

[markc]

The ADDS 3k is currently calling for W 20-30 @ 3k, mid-afternoon.... So it might be a bit early for declaring Pulpit vs another site???

But even so, I'm certainly "in!" for celebrating Charlotte and Daniel's imminent wild-and-crazy parental lives.

MarkC

[XCanytime]

I have to work Saturday morning, but hopefully it's a light day for freight which would enable me to get to the Pulpit by 1:30P to help launches. It may get breezy at the Pulpit, but STFI, which is a helluva lot better than a 45 degree cross at a slot launch or a cliff. With qualified wire crew it should be no problem. Count me in Daniel. Bacil

[niquya]

Hi all,

I'd love to be there tomorrow ! As a P-2 I guess I need an observer right ? Also I dont have a car yet, so if anyone can share a ride from DC or around it'd be great.

Thanks !
Yannick

[dbodner]

Drinking and flying sounds great, though we may have to re-think the order.

[hang_pilot]

Yannick - I live in Dupont and am happy to give you a ride to the Pulpit. However, you might want to think of me as your back up plan, because riding with me will make for a long day (my gear is stored in MD and I'm going to leave early, PG pilots will probably fly later). Feel free to call me to discuss: 301-275-6584.

Best,
Daniel

P.S. Yes, you need an observer. Matthew Graham might fly in the afternoon after playing polo in the morning. You can give him a call or one of the other observers.

[Matthew]

Yep. Karen's HG is loaded as are our PGs. We are playing polo in Shepherdstown, WV till about 1:30 and then heading to the flying sites. Might stop at Smithsburg if we hear that it's blowing like stink at the Pulpit.

Anyone else going to or teaching at Smithsburg? David Zuchero is thinking of heading there with his dusty old Pulse 10 meter.

Taking my very sad and bruised HG to Steve Wendt on Sunday.

Matthew

[jyoder111]

I'm planning on heading to the Pulpit in the morning and maybe bailing to Smithsburg if the Pulpit is blown out. Open to carpooling from Arlington.

Jesse

[XCanytime]

The hourly forecast for Hagerstown via weather.com is for a peak wind of 12 MPH between 3 and 4P. Just get there early for goodness sake and wait till it switches from SW to W after noontime. West at 11 MPH at 1 and 2P. What's not to like. Bacil

[guy didier]

YANNICK - I live in DC and may go PG at Pulpit. Let's check in the morning. Guy-didier 202-361-663

[jmcclave]

I am going to head to Smithsburg in the AM to meet Peter Humes where he is meeting a couple of students. We are hoping to head to the Pulput in the afternoon if the winds cooperate. It would be great to meet some of the other local flyers.
Jim

[markc]

Leaning towards Woodstock give what I'm seeing as of Friday night.... Course, maybe things will change by tomorrow morning, who knows!

MarkC

[jyoder111]

Heading to Pulpit with Dave B. Some mention of having a campfire later, so come out for the socializing if anything.

Jesse

[XCanytime]

With qualified wire crew it should be no problem.

And with qualified wire crew Daniel launched successfully in strong conditions from the pad at the Pulpit and enjoyed a nice long soaring flight and had a nice landing in the main LZ. I will let him tell his story. Bacil

[jyoder111]

Yup, took some work and coordination, but we got the daddy-to-be up in the air. Was blown out for David and I, unfortunately, yet felt like a worthwhile day anyway. Plus, breaking down on top is good karma, right?

Jesse

[XCanytime]

Hope to see everyone there.

Just enough to make a qualified wire crew.

[hang_pilot]

Measured at launch with my handy Kestrel wind meter:
12pm gusts to 31
1pm gusts to 26
2pm gusts to 21
2:45pm gusts to 21

Launched at 3pm from low on the pad with David, Jesse and Bacil’s able assistance and flew for 1:40 maxing out at 1700 over.

Felt like I had to wait a while on launch for a lull of decent duration, but I picked a good cycle and ran off into ~15 STFI. With half VG on my LiteSport at trim, at times I was only making ~2 mph ground speed (per GPS) when flying straight into the wind, so guess that winds aloft were in the 25 mph range.

It was an enjoyable flight. After the first 500 feet the air smoothed out. I mostly just flew out into incoming lift lines but occasionally turned a 360 or two. I was conscious of penetration, but not anxious. I do think David’s experience would have been less fun on a Sport 2 and that Jesse might have gotten blown back on his Falcon, so I understand/support their decisions to stay earthbound.

I’m sorry they didn’t get to fly, but on the bright side David claims to have given a “ground handling lesson” to a German wuffo of the female persuasion -- don't worry, we won't tell Jody -- so I guess it wasn’t a totally wasted afternoon.

Bacil was waiting in the LZ with my car, how’s that for service! The four of us had a drink at the Mountain House and then met Matthew and Karen at the restaurant formerly known as McKinstry’s in Mercersburg.

Thanks all for giving me a great send-off into my paternity leave: David and Jesse for heading to Pulpit instead of Woodstock, Bacil for coming out to help sans glider, and Matthew and Karen for heading over from Smithsburg to join us for dinner.

I’ll post baby news when I have some.

Blue skies,
Daniel

1580 over making just 3.5 mph ground speed.


Happy Pilot