High Rock Sunday

[Matthew]

Looking good for High Rock starting around 2:30 on Sunday.

If forecast holds, let's get a big crowd out there-- I'll call the troops and see if we can round up some extra wire crew. Will confirm on Sunday morning-- plan to arrive there around 1pm to shuttle cars.

Matthew

[Danny Brotto]

Tempting. Wind direction/velocity looks okay but there is a 30% chance of showers and mostly cloudy. Will recheck in the morning.

I keep my glider in a hangar at the glider port. The doors are reported to be unopenable due to ice/snow drifts. Anyone contemplating HR have a DS glider they can bring along that I can borrow/rent? Hook in ~165 lbs in winter gear.

Danny Brotto

[FlyingFelix]

After missing what I think could be an exceptional day at Daniels today all I can do is hope for flyable conditions tomorrow at HR.
If flyable, I'll be there.

[flaille]

Hello,
If you think tomorrow will be flyable at High Rock, I can pick anyone up on the road from Hagerstown to HR.
Olivier

[Danny Brotto]

Rain and snow chances increased to 60% midafternoon now. Direction still good but velocity has dropped a bit. Still within parameters for ridge soaring. Let's look again in the am.

Danny Brotto

[mingram]

Olivier, High Rock is hang gliding only because the launch is a cliff with nowhere to lay out a PG unfortunately.

[markc]

Hmmmm.... Lookin' a bit light for High Rock.... Perhaps better at The Pulpit, but the precip chance up there has been bumped to 60% at 1pm.

Could be an iffy day, but I'd be willing to give it a try if things seem at least somewhat doable, somewhere, with tomorrow morning's forecasts.

Course, as today proved, even day-of forecasts ain't worth much. *smile*

MarkC

PS: Olivier, in contrast to High Rock, the Pulpit *is* a PG-able site.

[FlyingFelix]

I'll make a call in the morning as well, hope it's flyable somewhere.

[FlyingFelix]

Well, winds seem light but thermals might make it worthwhile to go out there. Chances of rain are decreased... High Rock?

[kcarra]

Not sure yet. I'm less than enthused by the cloud cover and the light wind forecast and 40 percent chance of rain. Any other thoughts???

Matthew

[Matthew]

Going to Flying Trapeze this morning. Will check forecast when done around 12:30.

Matthew

[flaille]

Ok Mark, Pulpit seems to be quite close from Hagerstown as well.
If someone plan to make a try, I'm in.

[FlyingFelix]

Forget the trapeze Looks like a nice break in the clouds this after-noon, sun shining, good possibility of thermals, if weak winds...I'm getting ready and hopefully give High Rock a chance. HR allows for more North, Pulpit might be too weak and the long reach to the LZ (and little bit less altitude to get there) makes it not a great option for today. What's everyone else thinking?
Let's go to the rock and fly people!

[markc]

On the fence... Pulpit prob the better call, but not exactly a boom in' day.

[markc]

For High Rock we're going to need a for-sure 4. Do we have that?

[markc]

There *are* some sunny breaks up at High Rock on the satellite. I could be convinced, if only for the cliff launch practice. But sounds like Matthew is maybe at best, and no word from Danny yet. Just two isn't going to work...

[FlyingFelix]

Well, I think Andy is in (not positive yet), and Matthew will change his mind and come...
Anybody else? For some reason I'm very positive about today at HR. If Pulpit is better it's only 30 min away...

[Rich E]

Dan L and I are probably(possibly) in but neither have flown at HR before (both have done AWCL though) but have flown Pulpit - thoughts??

[markc]

I think I'll start wandering up HR way, maybe things will work out.

If you haven't yet done so, take a look outside at the blue skies to the NW!

[Rich E]

Ok! Dan and I will also head up - shall we meet at launch? I think we both need waivers - are they available at the LZ?

[FlyingFelix]

I'll start going as well towards HR. We can always swing over to Pulpit if things looks better that way.

[Danny Brotto]

At Fairfield. .Bbrilliant blue, clear to the NW, warm in the sun. Winds on the ground 5 from the north. I'm going to hang out here for a bit then likely head up to HR.

Danny Brotto

[flaille]

I went to Pulpit to look at the take off and landing area. around 10mph average wind speed; up to 20/23 mph when thermals blow the take off. Direction: slight left (20 degrees)
Regarding birds, and power of thermals at the take off, I have the feeling that today was a quite unstable day, with moderate to high climb rates, was it the same at HR? I think spring is arriving faster and faster
Hope to see an observer next week-end to be allowed to take off.
Olivier

[FlyingFelix]

Wow, HR was quite different than Pulpit - we should of went to Pulpit!
HR was blowing in steadily at around 5-8 MPH, some slightly stronger cycles - clear skies, bright sun, some birds were soaring now and again in little tight thermals. That's pretty much what we found, little punchy thermals on the way to the LZ, Mark played on top of the LZ for a nice while.
Looked like a great day I just couldn't make too much of it. Still, glad I went out, Spring is on its way!

[markc]

Hey Olivier! I'm really sorry that you were on-your-lonesome up at the Pulpit on Sunday.

And it's actually pretty ironic: The HG'ers were at High Rock, where the winds were much lighter and the chances for soaring weren't all that great, while you were at the Pulpit, where winds usually blow 5-10mph higher than forecast. Go figure, eh?

What tempted me out to the Rock was the opportunity for a cliff-launch in benign conditions (we don't get to fly there a lot, lately), plus the fact that we had two pilots who hadn't yet flown the site. Rich and Dan both had great launches, and I'm hoping that the trade-off of a potential soaring day vs. a new site was worthwhile for them.

We had 100% sun all-damn-day, which was another 'plus' for High Rock. How were things at The Pulpit Olivier, sunny or overcast? It seemed like the cloud cover was fairly thick, at least based on that we could see from launch.

Winds at the Rock were <10mph, occasionally N cross, and occasionally W cross. I lucked into a light thermal which took me from about 500' AGL back up to launch level, 1000' AGL... But I couldn't stick with it, so my flight was just an extendo. Given the wind direction in the LZ after I landed, I wish I had experimented more, and tried a track *into* the valley. Winds were solidly S at times in the LZ, argh!

Spring is definitely around the corner, we could feel it in the air yesterday!

MarkC

PS: Huge thanks to Charlie and to Blaine for stopping by just to help others launch, no intent of flying themselves. That made things MUCH easier, thank you guys!