High Rock Friday PM?

[markc]

Can't get away early enough for WS on Thurs but might be able to
pull off an afternoon flight at High Rock. Probable departure at
about 2pm. Matthew and Karen are thinking about it... Anyone else?

MarkC

[Danny Brotto]

I'm interested.

Danny Brotto

[sailin]

I'm definitely interested in flying on Friday. Looks like a fairly breezy forecast and although i really like High Rock, the wire crew necessities seem to make week day flying there kinda tricky (even on the weekend). If this is where people end up, and we get decent enough numbers to wire crew, then I will probably be there too, but I am going to start a separate Woodstock thread for Friday as well (looks like a nice Woodstock forecast as well).

Jon

[kcarra]

I'm afraid we're backing out - forgot about a previous committment.

[dbodner]

I'm off Friday, so I'll be actively following this discussion.

[markc]

Hmmmm.... I'm a little worried about the High Rock text forecast for Friday, now up'd to 10-15G25.
The hourly isn't as strong, but even so it doesn't look to get much under 15 until after 6pm. If these
'casts are accurate we would need a solid turnout of at least 5 pilots in order to have a chance at
getting everyone in the air. And bear in mind that it's been a while since most of us have flown at
the Rock on a strong-ish day.

Trying to make _today_ happen at WS is suddenly starting to look more interesting..... But that's
not a good idea, still recovering from a cold and not sharp enough to fly today (and trying not
to let this gorgeous day change my mind about that, grrrrr!).

MarkC

[Richard Hays]

I'm interested

Rich Hays

[Danny Brotto]

Looks a bit breezy now for HR on Friday; at least for me and my "Mountain Falcon". I will be in the area so if someone wants to fly, let me know and I'll show up to at least crew... or drink a beer at the Ott House.

Danny Brotto

[markc]

Frustrating : Looks to be fairly strong at HR, and fairly light (esp. later in the afternoon) at WS. If I could blow off the entire day, I'd definitely give WS a try, and aim to be there at the peak. But I'm not sure I can do that.... And High Rock could be a bit of a challenge until fairly late.

I'm willing to give HR a try, pending tomorrow's forecasts, but I think we'd need a decent number of pilots who'll commit, and also willing to wait until later in the day to fly. Do we have that? (Dave B, Jon, Jesse, Rich?).

If not: Maybe be a Highland Day on Sat, given that the switch to the SW is supposed to happen by 11am at The Pulpit? (supposedly later, 1 pm, at High Rock, but you'd have to get there early, and *hope* for something better than 10mph).

Decisions, decisions, wish I was retired!!!

MarkC

[dbodner]

I have things to do earlier today, so I'm up for giving High Rock a shot in the afternoon.

[Danny Brotto]

Mark et. al.

I can be at HR in the later afternoon to help launch and possibly fly.

Just definitivly post intentions.

Danny Brotto

[markc]

I think we need to convince at least one of Jon/Jesse/Larry to divert to WS, which would give us four.
Without that, I don't think it would be worth it. Forecast for WS has backed off a bit, so maybe.....

MarkC

[Danny Brotto]

Mark,

You mean divert from WS to HR?

Alternatly, I might be able to drum up a tow pilot to pull up the Grob 2 place at Fairfield if you want to fly glass instead of dacron. Should be a nice day to be up and about!

Danny Brotto

[stevek]

I'm in for the Rock.

[markc]

(yeah, sorry, I meant divert *from* WS)

Ok, so we've got Steve K, Dave B, myself, and Danny. I think that makes this a "go" if everyone
is still in. I can't get there until later, ETA of 3:00. Looks like Dave B might be there later too.
Earlier-arriving pilots could set up and would have crew when the later pilots show up. After
they are off and fly for a while, they could come up and help throw off the later arrivals.

MarkC

[Pete Schumann]

I'm thinking about it... I may be able to leave work at 11

Pete

[POLISH EAGLE]

Gregory, Glen And I will be going to HR.

[Danny Brotto]

Anybody have a small DS glider they can bring to HR? My "Mountain Falcon" is begining to cramp my style

Danny Brotto

[jyoder111]

I haven't left yet, looking at forecasts. Leaning toward HR, but I haven't flown that site yet. Today looks strong, but doable later afternoon. What do you experienced pilots think? Is today a good day to learn to cliff launch?

Jesse

[Danny Brotto]

I should be at HR about 3:00.

Danny Brotto

[jyoder111]

Heading to HR. Late-day flight, maybe.

Jesse

[markc]

Sheesh! They take the mention of gusts out of the forecast this morning, and what's it doing at HGR? G20 and G23 for the past two obs, figures right?

Still going to give it a try though.... Might be late day flights for everybody who shows today.

[markc]

On the plus side, everyone soared today! On the minus side, the winds were strong all darn day. After a brief lull around 6:45, which had us all thinking "ah-hah, the switch just turned off", things started cranking again. Full wire-crews, all day.

Cast of 1000s! Well, 100s. Ok, maybe 10s! Rich H, Tim H, Dave B, Pete S, Steve K, Danny, Chris, Gregory, Jesse, Glenn, and myself. Probably the biggest HIgh Rock turnout since last year, E-J was very happy to see us. From what I hear, the first launches were around 3pm (Pete and Steve). I arrived at 3:40 to find extremely solid 10-15 (mostly 15) with gusts to 20. The trees in the flats were boiling, and things really ramped up whenever a cloud passed overhead. Early launchers got at least 2k over, and there was lift everywhere in the valley.

I helped with some launches, then hung around a bit waiting for crew. Launched shortly before sunset, last one off the cube. Major thanks (Steve? Pete?) for driving my vehicle down (Oh, and BTW..... There's usually BEER in my vehicle, open that cooler and grab a cold one, no need to ask! ). Had the ridge to myself, turned off the vario, and just flung the glider around until the sun was setting. Brief flight, but fun. Landed with a few mph tailwind, thinking 'ah, it's not too bad', and was a bit surprised by the groundspeed I had on final. Threw up a late flare and just kinda whumped down. Happy with that outcome in retrospect, but should have played it safer.

Was loaded up by 9:10, then Dave and I hung out with Emma-Jane listening to reminiscences about the High Rock scene, then on the road by 10 and back home at 11:15. Phew, long day.

Highland tomorrow?

MarkC

[jyoder111]

First flight for me from High Rock! Had to wait for it, but it got pretty nice in the evening. Nice to see so many pilots out! Special thanks to David B, Danny B, and Mark C for the site intro, counsel, and launch assistance. Grass in the LZ is pretty tall and I busted my pride on landing, but no harm.

[dbodner]

I launched late in the day, though I still had to pick a low-cycle. My left wing lifted on launch, but I managed to recover. Once in the air, I quickly entered smooth, constant lift. The magic lift took me past 1200 over launch before I felt the need to intervene. The sun was getting low, I was a little apprehensive over the landing (see below), and I didn't want to break down in high grass in the dark.

Once I'd had my fill of easy flying, I slowly penetrated in the smooth air to past the railroad tracks. Then I went through what seemed to be a boundary layer (the only slight turbulence of the flight) to another air mass. This new air mass wasn't lifting nearly as much, and I was easily able to lose altitude. On landing,I ended up on my knees but no damage to pilot or glider. That was a much happier result than the last time I flew High Rock on the same glider. Then, I ended up with a broken arm. I had since flown High Rock, and I had since flown the Sport2. But, until yesterday, I hadn't put the two together.

Many thanks to many, including Danny who helped but didn't fly. We tried to convince him to throw his Falcon together but to no avail. And Mark, thanks for hanging back and being the last pilot to launch.