Thanks Bacil! You da man! My flight stats: lowest ground speed 2mph highest altitude 2665, best lift 350 fpm, duration, 1:21. The air was a little textured and punchy at times, but still enjoyable. Penetration was slow due to the velocity and direction of the wind. Once I got as far south as I dared to go, I just hung around the granite outcroppings. When the ridge lift subsided, I had a nice long downwind dash to the LZ.
Looks like one of those strong-to-the-north/light-to-the-south days
The forecast at 3k is pretty light down at WS, so I can't quite convince myself to give it a try given the <10 forecast out there. Will head to the Pulpit, and hope that it will be a bit lighter than it looks at the moment.
It was dang good today at the Pulpit. Got there just after 9A. Set up and put the socks in their places on the pad. To the west wave clouds and cumies headed our way. I took flight at 11A from the pad as conditions started picking up. Jesse followed me into the air and we struggled for a half hour before the sky filled in with clouds above us. I finally found a ladder to base and hollered at Charley on the blower that I was heading OTB. Got to base at 4400' MSL just above Cove Mt. Maintained 4K' MSL until I ran out from under the big darkie. Headed north to another cloud to keep on a track away from the TFR 10 nm boundary. Didn't find anything and had a nice landing in a HUGE field just NE of Williamson for around 11 miles and just over an hour in the air. Texted the road (SR 3013) and the creek (Back Creek) that I was next to and Charley found me w/o a hitch. Thanks a bunch Charley! Back at launch Charlie took off and Mark C. buzzed launch many times. Hung around and helped John Middleton and Karen from the old ramp and the pad. They each had nice launches and sunset flights. Charley decided to bag it after 5:30P. Still pretty strong and had a lot of north in it at times. Sweet day! Bacil
Great flying weekend! Had a nice but bumpy ridge soaring flight last night for an hour and then a new personal best today. Launched after Bacil around 11AM and had some nice climbs to 3100 MSL and then sunk back to ridge. Watched Bacil head OTB and then found a rocket thermal twenty minutes later that took me up to 4k MSL. Sport 2 is a fun glider! Drove upwind under an awesome cloud street and then drifted back in lazy circles, getting to 4800 MSL. Menacing clouds and my cold fingers drove me to blue sky over launch and then down down down to the LZ where I hit gusts and sink and ended up flying all the way to the ground for a wheel landing because it was too turbulent to get on the uprights.
Here's the video. Camera battery depleted during flight because of yesterday's flight recording but I was pleasantly surprised to find I got most of today on video!
It was fun day. I had two hours but never took the lift to base. I ran almost to the knob to the south, then back north to just past the reservoir. I fun XC task and challenging at times, getting down to ridge level a couple of times. Thanks to Mark, Charlie, and Kurt for your help on launch.
I also need to reset the "Landings without Whacking Meter" back to zero. Oh well.
Sunday was great fun. Flew about 5miles down the ridge to the south to get under a nice cloud streak, climbed up to base (about 6500) and flew the street upwind about 6 miles to the west ridge and over the lake then came back to launch prior to landing. Mathew thanks so much for getting Mark and i in the field much appreciated. Below are some pics from my go pro:
I absolutely agree with the last posts! I want more “massive pics” and please hit the ‘more massive’ button before sending. Your last photo is simply stunning! Thanks Charlie, Ward
Since more photos are needed, here's mine:-)
At Woodstock, this past Sunday (Oct. 21'st) - what an awesome site!
I was throwing the dice about where to head out (Woodstock or Pulpit) - and decided to go for the new (to me) site. Conditions were not looking as good and all other pilots seem to have opted for The Pulpit but I decided I was going to be OK with a sledder if needed be.
Wise choice, I was up there for 3 hours and 25 minutes - TONS of fun!
First flight as a new H3.
Can't wait for more!
highest altitude 2665, best lift 350 fpm, duration, 1:21. The air was a little textured and punchy at times, but still enjoyable. Penetration was slow due to the velocity and direction of the wind. Once I got as far south as I dared to go, I just hung around the granite outcroppings. When the ridge lift subsided, I had a nice long downwind dash to the LZ.
Drove upwind under an awesome cloud street and then drifted back in lazy circles, getting to 4800 MSL. Menacing clouds and my cold fingers drove me to blue sky over launch and then down down down to the LZ where I hit gusts and sink and ended up flying all the way to the ground for a wheel landing because it was too turbulent to get on the uprights.
