Woodstock 8/14/2013 - afternoon

[wmelo]

PATCHY FOG IN THE MORNING. SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE UPPER
70S. NORTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH.

It seems that tomorrow (Wed) will be a good day at Woodstock.

Is there any observer interested in taking the afternoon off?

walt

[jyoder111]

Yes, I'm interested.

Jesse

[andybalkphysics]

I might consider it also. Jesse, would you be interested in carpooling? If I remember right you live in northern VA and also I owe you a sandwich.

[andybalkphysics]

Walt,

What time are you planning on arriving?

-Andy

[Rich E]

Am also interested

Cheers

Rich

[wmelo]

I am planning to leave Falls Church, VA, by 1:00pm (hopefully, a little bit earlier). Therefore, I should be in the LZ by 2:30pm.
Walt

[Rich E]

Will see you at the LZ!

Anyone need a ride?

Cheers

Rich

[andybalkphysics]

Jesse and I are gonna meet at the LZ at 11:00 AM tomorrow and try to squeeze a couple off in the morning, if anyone wants to join us.

[markc]

oh man, tomorrow does look like it could be sweet. the hourly is calling for nw@10-15, high of 76, and a 25° dew point/temp spread... if things are still as promising tomorrow I might have to find a way to take leave, even though I might pay for it later....

will check again in the morning

MarkC

[mcgowantk]

I am looking at heading out in the afternoon too.

Tom McGowan

[markc]

I think I can make it today, after a few hours at work this morning. Count me in!

MarkC

[markc]

Wow, now that was most def worth a half-day of vacation!!

North cross at times, and strongish, but the fun factor was way high. I flew for 3+ hours, best thermal was immediately off of launch to 3800' above the mtn, a fairly close encounter with a red tail, made it to signal knob on my third try, floated along with PGers later, and then had an exciting cow-filled LZ at the end of the day. Thank you Jesse for getting them out of the way! Awesome flight, completely stoked tonight!

MarkC

[andybalkphysics]

I had a similar experience to Mark, but not quite as long. Took off around 4 into bulletproof ridge lift and got immediately up to a grand over. Bacil recommended a trip to the winery again, so I gave it another shot. Went north on the ridge a bit without finding anything enticing, came back, and then caught a cloud street which took me upwind across 81. After 81 I didn't find much, and started getting low and scared, but luckily found another good thermal that let me get back to the ridge. There I hovered around launch for a while, and sort of accidentally got a nice thermal almost to cloud base, and tried to go into the valley again, but chickened out and went back to the ridge once more. Watched a PGer take off from the air, then landed. Thanks to Jesse, Rich, and Walt, and Mark for the launch.

As Mark said, pretty good day and worth the time off.
-Andy

[jyoder111]

Very good day at Woodstock. It was strongish in midday but with launchable cycles rolling through. I flew twice, once at midday in ratty broken lift (max 1.5k above launch), and then again right after launching Walt in the evening around 6pm. On the last flight, I found a nice fat thermal right off of launch that bounced me up to 1k over. I started looking around for Walt and couldn't see him. After 5 min I still hadn't spotted him and I started to get worried. I headed north, thinking he might be up the ridge. I sank back to ridge level pretty quick. Turning around, I spotted Walt stinkin high where I'd just been. He'd been above me the whole time. Never did manage to get back up there. Congrats on the great flight, Walt! Good launch. Gotta keep working on those landing approaches.

Jesse

[jyoder111]

Here's the video:



Jesse

[wmelo]

It was nice to be back to the mountains after 5 months! It was a very pleasant experience. Launch by the end of the day after a long cycle of gusty winds. Wait almost 10 min on the ramp to finally launch with a nice breeze. Then I got a few good thermals on the south side of the launch that brought me to 1,500 meters. After I saw Jesse landing, I have also decided to land. My land was terrible  Miscalculate the angles and started my approach to high and ended up landing on the top of hill. As Jesse said, I need to improve my landing skills at Woodstock. Fortunately, I did not break anything and did not get hurt either, but I need to do better next time.
Special thanks to those to help me on the wire (Rick, and a PG I forgot the name), Mark for the harm beer and ride to the launching area, and most importantly Jesse for his patience, advice, and support as my observer.
Regs
Walt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o07pSbsXzmU