Memorial Day Mon0526 : Highland?

[markc]

After a tough 13-hour timeshift, twice within the span of a week, I think last night's 15-hour sleep marathon was enough to get me psyched for some flying! Things look pretty decent for Highland, so I'll be heading out to the flight park early Mon AM (assuming no major changes in the forecasts). Traffic? Sure, big holiday weekend, gotta expect it/roll-with-it. If we luck into some early soaring, it might be possible to head back before things really jam up. But if not.... Pitch a tent and return at crack-o-dawn on Tuesday!

MarkC

[markc]

Decent day at Highland : Winds early.were strong, but had started to mellow a bit when I pulled in, around 10am. Bertrand and his girlfriend, John and Heather, JD, Travis, and a handful of others in attendance.

Jim R demo'd an Occulis Rift prototype while we were waiting for the winds to mellow. *Really* cool stuff, not hard to understand Facebook's $2B purchase.

At noon, there was an extended lull, which tempted me to set up. Bob launched while I was still getting my act together, and had the flight of the day. Adam test-flew a glider, and a couple other pilots solo'd. But by the time I was ready to go conditions had picked up, enough that I was debating go/no-go : Only one tow flight this year, and I eventually decided to call it. Broke down, and started wandering back home, hitting a few watering holes on the return. JD and John S were setting up when I left, so hoping to hear that they had good flights.

MarkC

[markc]

PS: Surprisingly light traffic on the return, back home at 7pm after stopping at The Jetty and Kent-Moor, and the backups were short and completely tolerable. Go figure!

[markc]

PPS : Heard that conditions on Sunday were excellent... Bertrand hit 7100 MSL, and many pilots had flights of 1 or 2 hours. Sigh, shoulda been there yesterday!!

[Rich E]

PPPS Sunday was excellent - I got to 7266 MSL my highest ever altitude in the US.