Woodstock/Big Walker Sunday 01/20

[XCanytime]

Looks pretty good for both. Hopefully Woodstock Tower Road is open. I'm doing one or the other. Bacil

[jyoder111]

I'm interested in Woodstock.

Jesse

[wmelo]

I would love to go.
Walt

[FlyingFelix]

I'm interested in coming out, hope for good weather!
What's the chances for the road being accessible? Is it a seasonal closure of the road or more of a "if there's chances of snow it's closed, if not it's open"?
Either way, if it's looking good I'm up for the hike.

[Matthew]

Thinking High Rock for Sunday. I'm guessing that the Woodstock Road will be closed after the snow tonight.


Matthew

[jyoder111]

We'll see how the next day or two shakes out-- how much snow falls in Woodstock. High Rock looks too strong on Sunday, as of now.

Jesse

[mcgowantk]

The forecast seems to be changing frequently from what I can tell. I am leaning toward Monday.

Tom McGowan

[g.sessa]

Count me in for flying on Sunday, if of course the weather cooperates.

[XCanytime]

Looks west and strong for Sunday until way late. I'm gonna head out nonetheless. The road should be open since it looks like the snow stayed S and SW of Woodstock. Bacil

[DanTuck]

Sunday afternoon is starting to look nice. Agree the snow stayed south of woodstock so I'll probably be there unless things change.

[jyoder111]

Tomorrow (Sunday) is looking pretty good for Woodstock. The gust factor has lessened a bit and looks to back off nicely in the mid-afternoon.
I'm thinking of ETA around noon. Who else is in?

Jesse

[FlyingFelix]

I might make it. Exhausted after today but I wanna go out there.
Will check back in the AM

[DanTuck]

Still looks good enough to give it a shot. ETA noon.

[g.sessa]

It looks like it may be a bit strong, but I am up for heading out and hoping for the best. I'll plan to arrive around noon and stop in the LZ if anyone wants to meet and drop a car off.

[FlyingFelix]

I'm in.
ETA noon at the LZ.
2026400719 (call, text)

[kcarra]

Current 8am Sunday forecast is for gusts up to 45. Wind barbs show gust factor ending after 2pm. Gonna wait for 11am update before committing.

Matthew

[kcarra]

Against my better judgement we're heading to WS even though the text forecasts still call for gusts to 45 because it looks like it will back off later in the day.

But I'm not bringing my paraglider.

I'M NOT BRINGING MY PARAGLIDER!

... maybe I'll bring my paraglider.

ETA 2pm

Matthew

[FlyingFelix]

Glad to be outside today, nice to see 11 glider set up at Launch. Sure was a beautiful day.
Unfortunately it got nasty and only 4 got to fly - Dan went first, then Bacil and Greg.
I went next and got to battle the winds for 25 minutes.
On launch I remember finding myself running down the hill close to the right downtube - not sure immediately why. I was told afterwards it looked scary. I watched the video as soon as I got home - what I gather is that once I yelled "Clear" the wire release let the wing yaw into the wind to the left (perhaps there was a little pressure not felt by the crew), I kept the wing leven adn ran down the hill, the launch looks good to me. I then hung out the bowl then went down to the main LZ for a crazy, rowdy landing - got down safely though.
Good practice on my new wing. I'm happy I have it though, the thing's got some speed; would of been VERY interesting with the Sport 2.
Thank you to the wire crew and to Dan for checking out my wing, adjusting some batten tension and giving me some pointers.
I uploaded a very short clip with my launch, the camera angle is not too wide so I can't see exactly what went on, but I feel good it wasn't as scary as I expected to see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClPijYx9 ... re=mh_lolz
[youtube][/youtube]ClPijYx95ZU&list=HL1358739328&feature=mh_lolz

[XCanytime]

I will file a more detailed flight report tomorrow but all I can say is I experienced the worst turbulence I have ever landed in today. I almost got tumbled twice, according to two eyewitnesses eyeballing my attempted approach into the main field. I got spat out of the main field and ended up bellying in the field with the pond in it at the end of Artz Road. Bacil

[XCanytime]

OK here goes. I got to launch at 11A. Breezy but not outrageous at launch. Set up my 2 spinner windsocks and set up waiting for others to arrive. Cumis were popping over the WV border and a few popped in the valley as we waited and listened to the NOAA stations reporting the strong surface winds at Winchester and Dulles Airport. After 2P the sky dried up and was clear blue now. Just before 3P Dan suited up but it got strong for a good 20 minutes. He waited and it started backing off after 3P. He got in the slot and had a nice launch in a smooth straight in cycle. He hit some chop exiting the slot. Dan reported lots of chop down low and a 20 MPH headwind at around 1500' over I believe. I had a nice launch and hit some chop coming out of the slot. I decided to head down towards the Edinburg Gap. Lift everywhere but my Avocet altimeter watch was on the blink so I had to use my eyes to monitor my altitude. I'm guessing I got to around 3500' MSL judging from my perspective view of Waonaze Peak at 2700' MSL at the gap. I was fearful of getting caught in wave so I ran from lift that seemed too widespread. Knowing it would be a quick trip back, and that I had to meet up with the family at a bar for the AFC Championship game, I turned around just short of the gap and out in the valley. I wanted to land by 4P in order to get on the road by 6P+. The quick trip back was realized and now it was somewhat difficult to get down above the main LZ. I noticed a good 20 MPH headwind out of the WNW at a few hundred above the main LZ at times, and knew that there would be some turbulence. As I slowly descended I went through a shear layer with 3 unloadings/wire slaps and a violent pitchover/roll that Jon said looked like a wingover. This rattled me considerably and then I hit strong lift that shot me back up 100'+. I had enough altitude to make it to the adjoining field on the other side of the river at the end of Artz Road. It is more wide open and easier to land in. Over there I encountered more crap with 2 more unloadings/wire slaps and another violent pitchover/roll. I finally got down into strong surface flow and flew it all the way to the ground and bellied it in. I quickly positioned the glider facing NE, unhooked, and radioed back to launch that nobody should be launching after what I just went through. Broke down and hiked my equipment up the road to just shy of the former River'd Inn Bed and Breakfast, where I encountered some locals that saw my rocky ride down. Mucho thanks to Jon for the retrieve. Bacil

[jyoder111]

Felix,
I was on your left wire during that launch. From what I remember, the glider began to yaw to the left as you started your run. I ran a few steps with you, pushing the wire, and threw the left wing forward as best as I could.

According to the video. It looks and sounds like the there was "light up" on the left wire as you began your run. You also began to move before you yelled "Clear" so my holding the wire may have actually initiated the left yaw. If that's the case, then I'm sorry.

Whatever the case, be sure to communicate clearly with your wirecrew as to what you expect from them. We can't read your mind

Fly safe,
Jesse

[FlyingFelix]

Upon watching my launch a few more times I think I have it figured it out - I yelled "clear" after I moved forward a little bit (before starting the actual run), and so Jesse you were still holding on to my left wing wire - that got the left wing staying put a little back while my right wing went forward a little, which created the yaw turn; once I yelled Clear you released and it was all good, though I had to run with the wing crabbed to the left a little.
It is my fault for yelling Clear too late, as well as my fault for not instructing the wire crew before hand that I want no one to actually hold the wires but just place their hands on top of the wire and watch out for gust that would push the wing upwards (that's what I do if I'm on the wire crew) - I guess yelling out "my wing" is going to be what I do from now on, make sure I'm level then yell Clear and go for it.
You live you learn!

Bacil, sounds like you battled the monster for a little bit, glad you made it down safely!

Safe flights everybody!

[mcgowantk]

Bacil

Thanks for the write up. Is there anything that we could learn from your observations before launch so that we don't fly in the same conditions? Or maybe is was fine for everyone else.

Thanks

Tom

[DanTuck]

I got to launch around noon and it was cycling up and down in the slot pretty drastically. Plenty of launchable lulls but the gusts were high so we waited. A little after 3:00 I had a nice launch with some turbulence as I cleared the slot. I radioed down with in a minute that I was already 500' over launch in pretty turbulent air. At 1,500' over I radioed down a stiff 20 mph headwind from the West but at least it was a lot smoother that high. I flew down to Edinburgh gap also and got the highest down there - 4950 msl in a 650 fpm thermal - though it was very slow going. Once I got to the gap I flew out into the valley and then sped back to launch pretty much straight downwind - my ground track was over 70 mph! Back at launch, I was quickly again at 3,500 msl and noted the headwind was now 25 mph. Freezing, I watched as Bacil touched down in a bailout just to the North and then warned us all that it was very turbulent near the ground. As I sat nearly parked over the main LZ, flying at 30 mph and still going up, I decided the bridge field would be a much safer choice. I pulled in and made some headway over there but as soon as I would slow down a little, I would start climbing again. I rocked upright, opened my harness and pulled in to get down (HG big ears) which worked fine. At 500' over the field things got rowdy. Never felt like I was going to tumble but it was pretty hard to make the glider fly straight. My downwind leg had me screaming over the ground so I turned base earlier than normal to stay well clear of the power lines down there. I was hoping it would smooth out in ground effect but no such luck. A lot of pitching up and down, not so much rolling left and right but I got it under control in time to flare and land on my feet, no whack. That was at about 4:15. The wind continued to pound the glider as I started breaking down but after 15 minutes or so it backed down and got pretty mellow. Felix and Greg landed in the main field but fortunately it was after things had calmed down.

My takeaways from yesterday -
1- Even though WS tends to get mellow in the afternoon, that's not always the case. Just because the conditions have improved for 15 or 20 minutes doesn't mean they won't get nasty again. I should have waited longer to be sure conditions had actually mellowed out for the day. Not sure how to predict that late day ramp up, would love to hear from some of the more experienced WS flyers.
2- When caught in the air with conditions like that, stay in the air until conditions change if at all possible. I was really cold and decided to try to land rather than become an ice cube and possibly struggle because of that. Had I waited for another 20 minutes, landing would have been much easier.
3- On days like yesterday, a glider with good penetration is a good idea. I'm sure glad I wasn't up there in a Falcon.
4- Radios, radios, radios. It was very helpful to hear Bacil after he landed and reported the conditions on the ground - hence my decision to land in the bridge field.

[silverwings]

If it is windy on the ground then strong turbulence is probable at all the normal LZ fields at Woodstock especially the primary. The bridge field might be a little better particularly with a west wind but with trees upwind still a hard call. What Dan said about waiting till later to land was probably the best suggestion. Anyone think about going further out in the valley to land and any comments about whether that might be better?