Pulpit Sunday 9/9

[callen]

Never heard of Raven Haven is the site still open?

I mapped the path to the SAC and I think I could have made it however one of the biggest challenges would have been at the point I called waterpeak, about 4 miles north of East Waterford which would have required a good thermal to punch 2 miles upwind to the next ridge (which is why i made it a turnpoint). The next jump would be near the town of Millerstown but that jump is downwind so would have been easy. In general it seems like the major hurdle going north is getting past the converging ridge at Sidney's Knob; which would take big balls if it was just a ridge lift day. Moreover coming back to the pulpit if you did make the pass would be challenging as you would need to punch 2 miles upwind.

My issue with heading to the SAC is retrieve. Flying 75miles and landing at home was very cool and Jenn really appreciated not having to drive.

[Lostgriz]

I had been trying not to think about flying in the days before the weekend, knowing that I am in the middle of a couple big projects on my house, I was trying to avoid the temptation to go flying. After a few texts from Charlie, Jon and Alex, I got weak and decided to skip out on my chores Sunday to see the guys and hopefully log a flight. I didn't have especially high expectations for the day, as I hadn't even been thinking about flying and didn't make the decision to fly until late Saturday night.

Like others have said, I was hesitant to launch with a few nasty clouds looming and decided to wait on better skies. After a couple showers, the conditions looked much better and several pilots were scrambling to launch. After I was in my harness, I realized that I had forgotten to run my push-to-talk switch down my arm. Rather than getting entirely out of my harness, I pulled my shoulder strap down and slipped my arm out, so that I could fish the wire down my sleeve without taking my shirt off. After getting my radio straight, I got a hang check and hiked up to launch. After waiting a few minutes for my cycle, I launched. During my launch run, I knew immediately that something was wrong. After I got established on the ridge, I started inspecting things to see what was going on with my harness and noticed right away that my right arm was above the shoulder strap. WTH? I couldn't believe that I had let that happen. It was easy to slip my arm back under the shoulder strap, but I spent the next few minutes cussing myself for letting that happen.

I played around to the south of launch for a while in conditions that were actually a little rowdy at times. Since we were having radio issues and I couldn't catch anyone to chat with, I decided to make a little run down the ridge around 4 miles and back to the south of launch. My max altitude on the ridge was around 4600' msl, but after goofing around I got back down to around a 1000+ over and was kicking myself for not charging over the back when I had the altitude. I hadn't really contemplated going over the back much until this flight. This was only my third mountain soaring flight and my second flight at The Pulpit, but I decided that I was going over the back if I got back to 4K. Around 45 minutes after launching, I was back over 4K and pulling the cord to head over the back for the first time. I was hoping that someone would see me going on glide and join me, but with no communications working and pilots scattered all over the ridge, I was at it alone. After clearing the ridge and entering the adjacent valley, I went on a 6 mile glide without a beep of lift. I was pretty excited that I had made the commitment to go over the back and at just under 900'agl, I was unzipped and dialed into a nice looking LZ. As I circled around what would be my intended approach, I hit a few sharp bubble that I actually ignored at first, feeling like I was committed to landing, even though I still had 850+' agl to play with. When I completed my a circle around my intended LZ, I hit the sharp bubbles again, but this time I decided to tighten things up a little and see what happened....... At around 2000' I zipped back up and after two miles of circling and drifting, I was at around 5800'msl and debating about where to go. I am embarrassed to say that I hadn't surveyed the area at all and really wasn't properly prepared for the flight, but I was having a blast and set my sights on the next little mountain range across the valley. I pulled some cord and went back on glide, trying to track in the most efficient lift/sink lines and enjoying the view of the valley. When I was about 3/4 of the way across the valley, I knew that I would make the next range and headed for the furthest field that I could see at the base of the ridge. The last 1/4 of my glide was shaded in pretty good and I had a nice no wind landing in a cut corn field next to a cemetery. I walked my glider out of the corn field and onto the grass in the cemetery next to a maintenance shed. As soon as I got out of my harness, a car turned into the cemetery to see what was going on. The lady and kids in the car were pretty excited to see me. After asking if I needed anything, she asked how long ago I had "jumped off of High Rock?" She was surprised to hear that I had launched from The Pulpit, and I was surprised that my flight had landed me just below High Rock and a little North of the primary LZ. While I had never been to High Rock before, I knew of the site and was now looking up at it from the cemetery. Around a half hour later, a seventy something year old gentlemen, Bob, pulled up in his town car and explained that his daughter had talked to me earlier and thought that I was probably lost. After chatting with me for a good hour, he offered to give me a ride back to The Pulpit. Other than the fact that we got slightly lost at one point, I got a kick out of chatting with Bob on the ride back. Jon, Alex, Bacil and I enjoyed a nice meal and shared the days adventures before I headed back to the cemetery to retrieve my glider at around 9:30. Good Times!! The straight line distance from the Pulpit to my LZ was just over 27 miles and my GPS said the total flight was fifty-something flying miles, so it was definitely a good day for me.

After reviewing Charlie's flight track, I was bummed that I didn't know the area better, as I was only around 15 miles from where he had landed and the skies looked pretty good in that direction. It would have been awesome to have met him there. I will definitely be better prepared in the future, so that I can make the most out of these opportunities. While I had an absolutely Epic day for me, I definitely could have gotten more out of it if I had better planning and taken the time to know the surrounding area better. Regardless, it was an awesome day and I was feeling lucky to be part of this great hang gliding community.

Special thanks again to Jon for saving the day by loaning me an extra shirt and gloves, since I ran out without mine and would have frozen without them. Congratulations on a great flight Brother!

I am sorry that I didn't get to fly with Charlie after he planned out such an awesome route. Although, after reviewing his track log, I am pretty sure my limited skills weren't up to that task. You are at another level Dude..... and that level would be many levels above the level where I am. Congratulations on a freaking awesome flight and making my track log look lame.

It was great to meet Bacil and get his great insight on The Pulpit and the days flying activities. I look forward to flying with you again.

Alex was ripping with his new U2 and should have left the KHK guys at the ridge to go OTB!

Oh, and thank you to Jesse and my wire crew for the launch assistance.

[callen]

Matt,
Great writeup and what a score on the ride. For going XC I highly recommend spending a lot of time on Google Earth studying the sites. Sunday was only my 3rd flight from the pulpit however I knew exactly what to expect. In Google Earth I typically exaggerate the landscape to the max of 3.0 so I can really see the mountains and in spots that could be tricky I draw a line with the polygon line tool which then allows you to see the elevation profile over that line.

After doing that route I have a much easier 50mile task that would be really fun and less technical. For next time I'll add a new waypoint and fix my radio (we should also leave cars at jenns moms ).

CA

[Lostgriz]

Sounds good Charlie. I will definitely be studying the sites better, with my XC options in mind. I got an F for prep on this outing for sure, but as always, I learned a lot. I am definitely looking forward to getting my new harness. With the weight I have lost, my harness is less than comfortable after an hour or so.

When I have a few minutes, I will do a quick edit of my flight and post it.

Matt

[XCanytime]

Thanks to all for the writeups of their flights on Sunday. You are now anointed proud new members of the TAF (Tuscarora Air Force). Charlie has showed that there are other XC routes, albeit sometimes very challenging, other than straight OTB. The Raven's Haven site is still open but there are specific rules to flying it. Contact the Hyner Hang Gliding Club about the specifics of flying Raven's Haven. In retrospect, it may have been possible to have flown upwind to Bills Hill Sunday as well. Bacil

[lbunner]

Good writeup Matt and congrats on the flight. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in awhile:-). You really should write yourself a checklist for your gear. Include setup and preps for flying on the list so it is cemented in your brain. Can't wait to fly with you all again.

[Lostgriz]

Good call Larry, I will have to do a check list. This is the first time I have ever gone out without everything I needed, but it only takes once to possibly miss and epic flight.

Thanks,

Matt

[callen]

On the way back about 1 mile after the waterloo turn point I stopped for a thermal which was 1,000fpm on the averager and peaked once at 1400fpm

After numerous e-mails with Pete (and playing with Seeyou) I concede the climb I mentioned above was not as good as I thought, however, my instrument did show 1,000fpm in flight and Google Earth had a peak of 1378 fpm which is consistent with what the 6030 showed in flight. Anyway after reviewing that thermal it turns out I had an average climb of 748.5fpm from entry to exit (~2800ft to ~5000ft) with an average climb of ~900fpm in the meat of it and an instantaneous peak of 1063fpm.

It's very disappointing to know that the 6030 isn't that accurate nor is Google Earth. I suppose all my past climbs are less then I thought what a bummer.

CA

[XCanytime]

Hey at least you were climbing . Timing is everything a good bit of the time when you go OTB at the Pulpit. Sounds like I should have been either further south or, from the pictures, further to the north. Every day is different. That's what brings us back again and again to the Pulpit . Bacil