Friday @ Woodstock (March 20, 2013)

[wmelo]

Friday may become a good day at Woodstock. If the conditions are good, who would like to take the day off? Jon and I are currently interested. Hopefully, others will also be interested and the weather will be fantastic (We can always hope so!)

cheers

walt

[Roger]

I'm up for it.

[sailin]

Looking good so far. Sunny, warm, and WNW...what more could you ask for????? Hope it stays that way.

Jon

[jyoder111]

I'm seeing 15pmh with gusts to 25-30 for most of the Friday at Woodstock. Walt, that looks too strong, especially for your Falcon.

Saturday at Pulpit or High Rock looks MUCH better to me. 5-9mph at ground level with no gust factor and clear skies. Back when I was flying my old Falcon, my optimal forecasts to look for were 10-13mph @ Woodstock, and 6-8mph @ Pulpit at ground level. Don't be scared of a forecast that's less than 10mph. It's almost always stronger on launch. On days with higher forecasts, I soon learned to stay home after a few times having to break down on launch while watching the pilots in high performance wings fly.

I'm available either day but leaning towards Saturday.

Jesse

[wmelo]

Jesse
Thank you very much for your feedback: I really appreciate! I am sure that others H2 also value this type of feedback and lessons learned.

That said, it is true that the text weather forecast for Fri @ WST shows strong gust wind. However, the hourly weather forecast graph does not indicate any gust wind...Of course, things can get better or worse. I will be checking the weather forecast and, most important, paying a lot of attention to the advice and hints of experienced pilots like you!

As far as Saturday is concerned, oh yes! It looks very promising! I would love to go to either place (Pulpit, High Rock, or other sites) if the weather is good and I have an observer Hopefully, we could even have enough people for Bill Hill this Sunday I am such an optimist guy! (Per definition, an optimist is someone who does not know enough about the situation s/he is in.)

cheers,

walt

[thermalup]

Visiting pilot here looking forward to a first flight at Woodstock being soarable but relatively mellow. Since it appears that Friday (and Thursday) are currently forecast for strong winds I am wondering: does Woodstock ever have an evening glass-off in the spring? Or is that more of a summer/fall event? ..::Jim

[mcgowantk]

Hey Walt

Just for background, this time of year, expect gusty winds as the thermals tend to be pretty strong whenever there is any sun. When looking at the forecast, I agree with what Jesse said. Text forecasts of 5-10 at the Pulpit will tend to be close to 15 at launch. Text forecast of 10-20 at Woodstock may be 10 or so on launch. I would suggest looking at the intellicast and ADDS isobar surface map to learn how to predict winds. There are other tools as well but I like those the most. And when forecasts do not align, you have to decide which you will rely on.

For example, the isobars on the ADDS page for Friday don't look too strong for Woodstock in my opinion, except that unusually strong low to the north might generate more winds that the isobars would otherwise predict. The intellicast looks on the strong side to me at Woodstock for Friday too. Based on that, the forecast on Friday is not as promising as on Saturday.

Of course, forecasts will change between now and then, but I kept a log for the first 5 years or so of my flying that included forecasts in order to help me predict where and when to go flying. That experience still serves me well.

I hope to go flying Saturday but will wait to make a decision. It may be a good XC day, who knows.

Take care

Tom McGowan

[Lostgriz]

I would LOVE to fly Saturday if the conditions are decent.

Matt

[krryerson]

I hope to go flying Friday or Saturday but will also wait to make a decision... .
Knut

[wmelo]

Tom

Thank you very much for all the information about intellicast, isobars, and so on. I have just checked intellicast and I really like the way they present the information.

I will continue to monitor these different weather forecasts, and listen to my fellow pilot hints, guidance, and feedback before deciding about going or not going. Let us hope that the weather will continue to improve and we will be able to have some fun this Fri. If I am not able to fly, I would be glad to see my fellow friends flying and learn a little bit more from them.

Yes, Sat looks very promising. I am looking forward to joining you, Bacil, Jesse, Matt, and others this Sat at Pulpit or High Rock.

Cheers

Walt

[sailin]

ETA to WOODSTOCK 1230ish-1pmish.

Jon

[Roger]

I'm seeing west. Not going to risk 8 hours of driving on this forecast.
I hope to fly bluesky sat but that looks iffy too. I talked to Steve and he said it might be possible.

[g.sessa]

Heading to Woodstock today.... ETA 12:30ish.

Jon - I will plan to stop in the LZ if you want to meet and drop a car off.

[sailin]

Sounds good Greg. I should be there close to 1pm.

Jon

[Dan T]

Jim asked about possible glass off at Woodstock.

Woodstock can glass off anytime of the year and especially this time of the year. If the winds are strong at launch at Woodstock it often pays off to wait until the last couple hours of the day and launch when it's evident that the winds have died down and are likely to stay that way. Some of the best "fun factor" low stress flights of the year will occur on those days. It's not terribly uncommon to find that the whole valley seems to be lifting off. That's why they call it magic.

Tomorrow could be one of those days.

I'm going.

Dan

[wmelo]

Guys,

We had a great day at Woodstock today. Greg was the 1st to launch and soared for hours! Jon launched late and also flew for a long time. After they were done, Emily, Jon, and Greg were very nice and helped me launch. It was +- 6:00pm. The conditions were good. I had a great time: flew for 30+ min, but could stay longer if I wanted, gained a good altitude -- 907 meters--, and landed safely even my landing approach was not that good. I got lot of turbulence in the LZ and end up not doing a perfect 8. Although I missed the last leg of the eight, I was able to recover and landed safely. Next time at Woodstock, I will keep it simple and use the DBF approach
Special thanks to Jon, who observed me today and helped tremendously. I wish also to thank Greg for his hints and help on wire. Emily was also very nice and assisted me on the launch. The last but not the least, my son Lucas who helped me carry the glider to the launch area, helped me set it up, and kept me company when my fellow friends were flying

I am looking forward to flying again with such a great group! BTW, the weather forecast looks good for this Saturday! Let us go again?

Cheers

Walt

[thermalup]

Great to hear that some fun flying happened at Woodstock yesterday.
Dan, Thank you for the Woodstock glass-off explanation. My local sites along Lake Michigan can have smooth ridge lift but rarely a true 'glass-off' because the Great Lakes don't store the sun's energy and release it on a daily basis like a mountain valley does. I am unable to make it out to Woodstock today but I do see potential NW winds in the forecast for later next week. My instruments are already charging in preparation. Hope to meet up with some of you then. ..::Jim

[jyoder111]

Sounds like a good day! Congrats on the flight, Walt!

Here's a link to a DBF at Woodstock on a Falcon if you're interested:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gD4oxgb2aY#t=02m10s

Jesse

[sailin]

Spring is here Fun day at Woodstock yesterday.!!! Before I type anything further I have to clear up a small but potentially devastating typo.....It was Amy that was there....not an Emily

Conditions on launch when we arrived around 130pm were fairly light with some thermal activity just starting up. Was about 5-8mph with occasional 12mph gusts. Direction had a little bit of a west cross but not too bad. Sky was blue over launch but you could see some nice cummies across the valley in West Virginia...they were slowly marching our way.
Things started to turn on consistenly around 3pm....winds still very moderate at around 8-10mph with some gusts in the 15-18mph. Greg was first off with a strong launch and climbed nicely. I was off just a bit later and found springy thermals with good lift and lots o sink. The ridge lift was not really working but there was lots of lift to find....and lots of sink. I yo yo'd up and down the entire time with several "low" saves from launch height or just a bit below. Ending up maxing out at 1300' over but there was better out there. Best I saw on the averager was 500fpm up and there was plenty of 400fpm down to go with that. Winds aloft were fairly light as well and didn't seem to get much over 18mph???
Had a very fun flight and headed out to land in the bridge field so I could get back up and help get Walt off the mountain safely. Got back up top and it was totally soarable. The gust factor had narrowed and the ridge had completely turned on. Walt had a great, strong launch and a very enjoyable flight. Congrats Walt !!!! it was really nice to meet your son as well. Randy showed up and had a nice HG flight as well.
Finished the day up with some good beer, an appetizer, and some good conversation in Woodstock....thanks Walt!! Also big thanks to Amy for helping with wiring and driving...Thank you!!!
Great flying with you Greg, Randy, and Walt,........ wish I could be at it again today......it looks sweet!!!

Jon

[g.sessa]

It was great that all the pilots who made it out to Woodstock had a chance to fly and soar on Friday. I launched first around 3:30 pm and found very active conditions just after clearing the slot. It was not all that enjoyable of a flight until I was able to climb above launch where I spent most of my flight around 750 feet over. I did, however, manage to catch a good thermal that took me up to 3,600 feet over launch. I enjoyed this only briefly as this happened later in the flight and I found it to be very cold at higher altitude. I then headed out into the valley to loose altitude and fly again lower on the ridge. I had a decent landing in the main LZ following a 70 minute flight. Thanks to Jon and Walt for the wire assistance. And a special thanks to Amy who helped all of us on launch! It turned out to be a fun spring day to hang out and fly with everyone at Woodstock!