Woodstock tomorrow (Thurs)

[garys]

Looks like a good day at Woodstock tomorrow. ETA for me is 2:00 pm.

[markc]

If I can re-arrange things at work, I'll be there by 3-ish. Fingers crossed!

MarkC

[wmelo]

it looks good so far.

MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS AROUND 80. NORTHWEST WINDS 5 TO
10 MPH.

Any observer available/interested?

walt

[Joe Schad]

I am in. Should be very nice. Be there at noon. Weed whacked some of the brush today. Can see the streamers now from launch.

Gary, bring the 911 video.

Joe

[markc]

With the forecast now much lighter, I am on the the fence... Not that I don't think it could be good, just a matter of balancing the vacation time taken vs the probability of a soaring flight. Would suck to take the time off and then be stuck with a late-day sledder.... But I'm still interested, will keep an eye on things tomorrow AM.

MarkC

[silverwings]

Interested also but would like a stronger foreccast for Winchester though the lift looks good. Will see in the morning.

[XCanytime]

Jeez I gotta laugh at the fact that sometimes this group tends to spend more time talking themselves out of flying than into flying. Tomorrow is going to be just fine. What's not to like? Low dewpoint, sunny skies, and NW winds at 10 MPH. The mountain is so STEEP that it doesn't have to blow much harder than 8 MPH to have reliable ridge lift. Looking forward to some sunny reports . Bacil

[silverwings]

I think we should go today. It is going to be beautiful out there, good wind direction, great lift forecast and fair wind velocity. Count me in, who else is coming?

[markc]

Sheesh Bacil, lighten up, any reluctance that you hear is directly related to the fact that a mid-week flight requires spending of a scarce commodity: vacation time! Is it any wonder that people might hope for bulletproof forecasts before spending it?

As for today: Last night's NWS surface cast of 5-10 has been bumped up to 10-15. The 3k forecast is still very light in northern VA. And the current surface readings are strong in PA and MD, with a steep dropoff in VA.

I'll watch things for a couple more hours before deciding... Leaning towards going.

MarkC

[markc]

Heading out! JohnM reports peaks of 10-15 at launch.

[wmelo]

Ghost ! I am so jealous I could not go! I am sure that everybody had fun

Walt

[silverwings]

Turned out quite good. Joe Shad launched while driving up and was soaring. This was about 1:30 ish and the winds were fairly straight in at 10 - 12 with a little stronger cycles. A pg pilot rode up with me from the LZ but he felt it was too windy for him. I set up and then met Gary S at he LZ to leave my car. When I moved to launch the the wind got lighter and I had to wait a little but had a good launch and got up fairly easy. Gary followed a few minutes later in his new used U2-160 glider that looks brand new. I flew to the South toward the gap for the 1st hour then back to launch and eventually out to 81 and back. Landed after 2:15 and got 4600 agl. When Gary and I left, Randy and Mark C were soaring and a PG pilot was also soaring. Wish more pilots had come.

[XCanytime]

Told ya it was going to be good . If I had any vacation I would have used it in a heartbeat . Bacil

[markc]

Four hours roadtime; 2 hours setup/breakdown; 3 hours of leave; about 1:45 airtime. Plus trying to get things under control at work this morning, so I would even have a shot.... What a blur of a day! Did I really fly, I hardly remember!?!?

Yeah, I did fly, and it was pretty good, though the crazy-day factor was much higher than I would have liked. I lucked into a cloudstreet immediately after launching, and took it to 3000' above the mtn at about 5:30pm. A bit of bobbing around, working the clouds that were coming in, and eventually topped out at 3600' over. For part of the day, the thermals were big and fat and mellow, in spite of the fact that the clouds were noticeably shredded/leaning. I remember thinking "It shouldn't be this nice, what gives?" .

Later in the day, a very persistent cloud bank set up just upwind of the ridge, continually redeveloping, for at least an hour. And further upwind there were some clouds that looked a bit wave-y. Seemed to me that some wave conditions were lurking about : Blundered into sink that just didn't feel right, given the sun, the dewpoint, and the amount of wind. Wave downwash? Also blundered into some areas of lift where I was just skating laterally, 200fpm or so, feeling things out... Possibly a near-connect with the upside of wave?

So it was a definitely a mixed-bag sort of day. But no complaints from me, it was a fun flight all around!

I ran across Joe S at the bridge field on my drive up, so I was able to give him a ride. He had landed in the field on the *left* side of the road, and that's where Randy and I both put down not long before sunset. Joe mentioned that he was on launch for 40 minutes due to light and switchy conditions, so things weren't brain-dead soarable earlier in the day. But he got to 2k+ over launch, and flew for 2 hours, awesome!

Big thanks to Jim McC (PG) for the body-ride back up top for Randy and myself. We completed our break-down before it got dark thanks to his help! Jim launched fairly late in the day, and we flew together at around 800'+ over launch for a while. I was trying to do my best PG-imitation, pushing out in lift for all I was worth.

Fun, though hectic, day!

MarkC

[markc]

PS: Had a chance to review the video from yesterday's flight today, and am more convinced that wave conditions were lurking after all. The light was fantastic: low sun, illuminating the brilliant green trees on the mountain. And the approach into the LZ over the corn was cool, with the waterfall visible several times as I boxed the field. Definitely got to do something with it!

PPS: Bacil, I'm less grouchy now. Funny what airtime after a sucky holiday weekend can do. *smile*

MarkC

[Ward Odenwald]

Was going to ask about the status of the LZ(s) but your video will most likely have all the info. Please share it with the rest of us.

Thanks in advance, Ward