Woodstock Friday May 11th

[sailin]

Any interest in Woodstock on Friday? Looks like it could be nice day there. I know there is interest in High Rock as well, but the breezy forecast, and thus needed wire crew numbers........... Just checkin

Jon

[jyoder111]

I'm interested in either, but eta around 2pm at the earliest.

Jesse

[lbunner]

I'm in for Woodstock unless the winds should diminish. The Pulpit is showing clouds (Woodstock blue) so I'd rather go there but if it's blowing hard I'll head for the blue.

[Roger]

I'm interested in WS Fri.

[mingram]

PGs are planning midday to mid-afternoon arrival.

Matt

[sailin]

Sweet, I am hoping for a midday arrival. See you there!

Jon

[lbunner]

Jon, I'm headed to WS too. When do you expect to arrive? Call me seven one seven 6five nineone 3 five 3

[Dan T]

I'm heading to Woodstock with the PG as soon as I can find someone else who is going.

Dan

[Dan T]

Larry flew from Woodstock to I-95 near Stafford VA. This post is my attempt to shame him into writing it up.

Dan

[sailin]

I launched about an hour after Bun and ended up with a 15 minute flight that got me a couple hundred over briefley. Most of the flight was scratching and trying to stay alive in ratty, punchy thermals down low before I had to give up on it and land in the primary LZ Was a "should-a", "would-a", "could-a" type of day for me, but I enjoyed the opportunity to fly and need the scratching/thermaling practice.
Thanks to Matt Ingrahm for helping cordinate a ride for me over the radio, and to Jim for giving me the ride.

Congrats to Bun on a sweet flight! Can't wait to read the write up.

Jon

[lbunner]

I’m finally back in PA after doing the Florida comps, visiting family in Illinois and a week of work in Nebraska. Once home, I saw that my buddy Kris Grzyb from Chicago flew 198 miles on Thursday. The cold front that produced that flight was already through the eastern seaboard however the winds on Thursday were honking. I checked Friday’s forecast on XC Skies and saw some outstanding conditions albeit again windy. The boundary shear ratio was expected to be around 10 (big fat lift) and cloudbase in PA was to be over 9000’msl! The winds however were showing 16knts at 1400 so the Pulpit was out (compression effect). I thought Woodstock was the best game in town and plotted out 200 miles passing through Blue Sky on the way to Currituck County Airport. I’ve dreamed of this flight for a couple years now and the conditions looked right. On Friday morning they still looked good so I confirmed with Jon that he was heading to WS. I planned on getting there at 11:00, Jon at 12:30 and the PG’ers around 2:00. As I passed through Chambersburg, the winds looked light. I gave Flight Service a call to double check and they still called for 15-25 knts in the Hagerstown-C’burg area. I crossed into VA and saw nice cumi’s off to the south toward WS. Woohoo, my adrenaline started flowing already! I got to the mountain around 10:45 and the winds were a steady 10-15 mph with clouds rolling through overhead. Note to self: When conditions are predicted to be this good, get to the site early enough to be able to launch at 12:00. I hauled in my harness and glider and took my time setting up. The winds ramped up quite a bit gusting upwards of 25 at times as the thermals blew through. Jon arrived and the winds died off to 0-5 mph. Drat, I didn’t want to launch in light winds. I got off in a light cycle at 1:23 (way too late), popping my nose a bit as I tried to dodge the rocks on my launch run. I started drifting to the left, pulled the bar in and dove to the bottom of the slot before settling down and cruising off to the right. A couple quick passes in light lift got me to ridge height before I hit 700 fpm to 5500’. My plan was to fly down to the gap to get a better line on Blue Sky. I hit 600 fpm half way there and took that to 6400’. I could see cloudbase was a lot higher. Clouds were lined up over the gap, where I took lighter lift to 7700. I had a line of cu’s over the back but a beautiful cu right in front of launch. Guess which way I went? The beautiful cu didn’t pan out and I groveled for the next 35 minutes flying under cloud after cloud but never hitting anything I could climb in. Finally, at 5300’ I hit 400-600 fpm, rode it to cloudbase at 8500’ and left the mountain an hour and 15 minutes after taking off. Halfway across the Shenandoah Valley I wandered from cloud to cloud without hitting any decent lift. WTF, I went from 700 fpm under a nice cu to nothing under 4 clouds. I finally got frustrated and headed on across the Shenandoah National Park, I saw a cloud forming over Hogback mountain and turned left. This was the best thermal of the day at 600-800 fpm, cloudbase was now at 8700’ as I headed out over the coastal plain. Little wispies were still forming and I continued to wander from cloud to cloud. Each successive climb diminished as I headed ESE. The clouds dried up downwind of me and I stuck with a slow climb over the Culpeper Airport topping out at 6900’. I went on a long glide and found 200 fpm at 1300’. I worked it back up over 2000’ before losing it. I headed to the Stafford Airport next to hwy 95 and put it down in a west wind. I had no driver but figured I’d call my wife if I couldn’t find a ride. I asked around the airport for a body ride back to WS but found no takers. I called Jon who was headed home and he graciously offered to pick me up. Dan Tomlinson was still at the mountain so he drove my vehicle to Manassas (where his was parked). Thanks guys for helping me out. Total time was 3:51 and 63 miles, ~70 miles dogleg. I wasn’t too pleased with the flight as I made way too many poor decisions but hey it was an excellent learning experience for the next time!
Lessons Learned:
1. Get to the site earlier. You can’t go big miles by missing the beginning of the day. We had good clouds over the mountain at 11:00 when I arrived and I would guess that base was near 7000’ at that time. I knew it was going to be an epic day but I procrastinated in my preparations the night before which put me behind from the get go. I should have set up my instrument with waypoints, prepped the cooler, packed my clothes and loaded the glider on Thursday night.
2. Fly with intent. I worked my plan in the beginning but should have headed downwind when I topped out at 7700’ over the gap. Later, I kept thinking I needed to top out under the few remaining clouds before I headed over the flats and ended up meandering from cloud to cloud which ended up wasting time. This in turn took me to the north of course line.
3. Don’t fly with my hiking shoes. They were too big for my harness boot which prevented me from staying in best glide position my shoes were pinching my pitch line and I kept rocking up. I’m paying for it today as my lats and traps are really toast. On the bright side my repaired shoulder held up pretty well (it’s sore too).
4. Get a driver so I don’t abuse my buddies.
5. Positives: Flew with my paws and hand warmers, four layers of clothing and my winter balaclava so never really got cold. My visor did ice up but I was able to clear it by popping it open a tad to get some air flow. I did get hot down low but wasn’t down there for very long.

[lbunner]

Tried to attach igc file but couldn't figure it out. If you would like to see it, email me at lbunner@aol.com.

[mcgowantk]

Bun

Thanks for writing up your flight. While you didn't make Currituck, it was still a nice flight. With luck, next time I will get to fly with you.

Tom

[eggzkitz]

Bun- Impressive flight. Nice work.

[markc]

I'll try to config the forum to accept .igc attachments tomorrow, and then I'll post Larry's file. Congrats on a great flight Larry!!!

[lbunner]

I have a better appreciation for Tom's record flight to Blue Sky. I learned alot about the mountains and look forward to trying it again soon (with Tom).

[hang_pilot]

I have a better appreciation for Tom's record flight to Blue Sky.

Here's Tom's write-up for those who haven't read it or might want to read it again:
http://chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2442

Congrats on a great flight, Larry!

Best,
Daniel

P.S. After Mark gets the .igc issue resolved, you might want to re-post your flight and track in the XC section. It's nice having the XC stories all in one place.

[Lostgriz]

Thanks for sharing the write-ups guys. Really looking forward to another Woodstock day.

Matt

[Dave Proctor]

Nice Flight Bun. Thanks for the writeup. I think we have all been burned by that 'one last cloud' before we go OTB. I am ready to get back in the saddle.

DaveP

[lbunner]

Here's the file for those of you that have SeeYou or Flychart.