Daniels Sunds 4/7

[dbodner]

Sunday's looking to me like a possible HG day at Daniel's

[markc]

Yup, I'm thinking the same, provided the aloft winds stay solid SW (rather than swinging WSW). Will keep an eye on the forecasts...

MarkC

[XCanytime]

I'll be there early, around 10:30A. Bacil

[jyoder111]

trying to kick a head cold. Probably won't go. Looks pretty good, though.

Jesse

[markc]

Still "in" , though winds aloft look a bit strong... Provided the forecasts don't go downhill I'll hit the road around 9:00 or so.

MarkC

[markc]

Hmmmm.... Starting to waffle given that the sfc cast has been upped to 15-20G30 .

[g.sessa]

Heading to Daniels.... ETA 12ish

[markc]

I think I'll at least head toward Daniels... Maybe stop along the way to re-check the casts.

[mingram]

Too strong for PG, but I'm contemplating going back to Daniels with the weed whacker and chainsaw.

[XCanytime]

Got to Daniels LZ around 11:15A to find Mark and Greg loading up Mark's high clearance 4WD vehicle. I led the way up to find light conditions on launch and varying cloud cover. Around 1P I decided to give it a go even though there was a lot of cloud cover out front. A quick trip to the LZ across the road ensued. Greg launched 2nd and got a brief soaring flight with a whopping gain of 75', landing in the west field. Mark waited on launch a good long time before taking to the air at 2P and getting up. Randy Weber launched and scratched and scratched for 10 minutes before succumbing to gravity and landing in the west field. Greg took Randy and I back to launch around 3P where Dave Bodner was setting up and Matt Ingram was working on the launch slot. The sky had cleared and the conditions had picked up a good bit at launch. As I picked up my gear I watched Mark climb way the heck up to 2500' over. He ended up landing in the west field after 1:45+ in the air. As I drove away Greg was specking out, Randy was up in his PG, and Dave had launched and was soaring at a couple hundred over. Bacil

[dbodner]

and Dave had launched and was soaring at a couple hundred over. Bacil

True, but not for long. I fought the good fight for 12 minutes. It was very active the entire time, and I was tired after that short flight. Still, it was better than yard work.

[g.sessa]

It turned out to be an interesting day at Daniels on Sunday. Conditions were surprising light on arrival, especially considering the strong wind and gust forecasts in the morning. As Bacil posted, Bacil, Mark and I got set up to launch shortly after arrival. I followed Bacil into light winds and struggled to stay up for about 10 minutes. Thinking conditions were not going to improve much, I broke down without the intention of flying again. But, when Bacil, Randy and I got back up to launch, conditions had turned on. The heavy cloud cover had dissipated and winds on launch were looking much better. I decided to take a second flight in hopes of making the long drive to the mountain more justifiable. I found good lift just out of the slot and was able to climb above launch. I then enjoyed most of my flight between 800 and 1,500 feet over launch, and had a few higher climbs topping out at 2,200 feet over launch. I flew for about an hour before choosing to land in the field across from the main LZ. Considering I was not sure driving down if we would be able to fly given the strong forecasts, it turned out to be a great spring day to be outside and a nice day to be hang gliding.

[XCanytime]

Checked the conditions at Charlottesville at 5PM today. Temp 80 degrees, Winds SSW 12 MPH, gusting 23 MPH. Dewpoint 39 degrees. CB, using a lapse rate of 6 degrees/1K', would have been close to 7800' MSL. Darn, missed the good XC to the winery conditions by one day. Aaarrgghh!