High Rock 40th Anniversary : Oct 3rd/4th : Volunteers Needed!

[brianvh]

Is anyone planning to spend friday night in the LZ? If not I may make other arrangements to avoid a cold night alone.

[Matthew]

Call Hugh. He and Sallie wee considering camping on Friday night.

Matthew

[mcelrah]

Nah, we're wimping out. What do people think of the wind velocity Saturday? We'll have a good quorum for wire-crewing... - Hugh

[markc]

It will all depend on how quickly the front moves through. Check the sfc maps and you'll see that one has already pushed through, but the second is poised over Michigan. My guess at this point is that we might be able to fly from the Rock late in the day. And Sunday is looking just great at this point, let's hope that it stays that way!

MarkC

[wmelo]

Eve my beloved observed promised that I will be promoted to HG5, I will NOT perform any Brazilian waxing
I will however bring a wine
Walt

[markc]

Disappointing news indeed. Walt, you promised!

[brianvh]

For some reason nobody is picking up the phone, so If anyone reads this in time, bring a weedwacker. They did not mow around the fire pit.

Got dark clouds passing overhead, I'm hoping if that goes through we'll have gentler winds. haven't been up top yet, but judging from below I'd say it's currently blown out.

[mcelrah]

Matthew, Karen, Brian, Tim, Dave, Cragin, Tom McG., Richard Hays & Jill, (and George Tutor's all-grown-up daughter and friends), Danny B and Tom [Brooks? - old time HG pilot now on sailplanes - but he sang an excellent hang-gliding song!), Dave Bodner and Jody, Mark C (fireworks!), James (PG pilot - also Marine Harrier pilot) and his SO, Walt Melo provided us with parillada Americana, Greg Sessa, Richard Elder (fellow Falconero), Erika Klein (H3 and sometime basic instructor from California - needs gear!), Kurt and Natalie, Dave (returned H3), Tom Allen, Carlos (and Nutta and Patrick), John Middleton and Marney, Charlie. I'm sure I have forgotten someone - I plead old age - please forgive me.

Matthew knocked himself out putting the party together and we raised ~$600 for Emma Jane (I'll let him do the official report). Thank you so much, Matthew! He and I launched in a moderate breeze in the 1100 hour for short flights with a rainstorm approaching. It ramped up as expected and Tim started the ball rolling about 4 pm on his Sport 2. Greg Sessa and Matthew joined. then around 5 pm Richard Elder launched his Falcon. Brian and I dithered about when/whether to launch in Falcons - especially when we heard Richard had had trouble penetrating and conducted a well-planned over-the-back to Fort Richie (well done Richard!). I went and spent quite awhile on the block with a lot of help waiting for the right cycle. Eventually got a clean launch and another short flight due to impending sunset.

May I say that we benefited from expert and numerous wire crew (sometimes doubling up on the wires and keel) to make safe launches in strong conditions. Just like old times!

- Hugh

[wmelo]

What a nice party! It was great to enjoy the evening with such an amazing group of people. My paragliding friend from Brazil, Brasilia (Remis) was impressed by the courage of our fellow pilots who defied the winds and launched from High Rock on very challenging conditions. We do need to do this kind of parties more frequently.

Cheers

[markc]

Kudos to Matthew for organizing a great Fly-In, and ensuring a turnout in spite of the strong conditions on Saturday. We raised money and we raised Emma Jane's spirits, mission accomplished!

We've *really* got to fly there more.

[mcelrah]

Doh! Missed JR and Dan T.

[markc]

Flying was also had on Sunday at HRock. Matthew, Karen, Dave, Jodi, Dave G, Craigin, BVH, and myself. Conditions at 10:30 were very light (5mph), but gusts were already starting to roll through and it was clear that the winds would soon be strong. Set up? Hope that you can beat the ramp up? Or bail?

Most of us set up.

Karen went first, when the lulls were still significant. Great launch, and immediately up! But she didn't like the feel, and landed fairly soon.

I went next, with Matt, Craig, and Dave B helping on the wires. Thank you guys!

Conditions were stronger, but I got a fairly benign cycle and took it. Not my best HR launch, but ok, pretty rusty on strong cliff launches.
Winds picked up shortly after and no one else flew.

Conditions in the air were turbulent, but with some occasional thermals worth working. I topped out at 4k MSL, with snow/sleet in the air. A good sized cell was to the north, and I hemmed and hawed for quite some time, trying to decide whether to ride it out, or land. After multiple trips out to the LZ to check wind strength, I ultimately decided to land, seemed like it could get worse.

Over the LZ, the tree line was boiling, and the winds were 90 cross. So I decided to land in the field next door, even though it was planted in winter wheat (2 inches high). Got it down, got pounded, was just about to ball-up.... But found something that let me halfway flare, and dug a wing tip into the dirt. Phew! Gotta make some better choices, even for years like this one, with mtn days on the weekend a rarity.

MarkC

[brianvh]

Erica was there. Don't forget her!! And Andy showed up at the last minute on sunday, a nice show of dedication.

I'm glad we had Richard the Scot around to point out that Fort Ritchie is landable. Older time pilots have it permanently blacked out as restricted in their brains, we needed that very well executed wake up call.

[brianvh]

And Ward! And two PG whose names I forget but salute for showing up at a non-PG site for a fly-in.

[Matthew]

Big thanks to everyone who showed up for the fly-in. I was a bit worried that it would be a bust with only fifteen firm commitments-- and part of that group diverting to Woodstock.

We ended up with about 40 persons for the party!!!

Special thanks to Walt for being the grill master, to Hugh and Tom and Richard for donating some firewood, to Anthony for clearing out the trash prior to the fly-in, to Mark for picking up the beer, to Craig for getting additional ice and taking home the giant bag of trash after the party, and to Dan and Kurtis for donating grills. Both grills are under the pavilion for the next time we fly High Rock.

In all, seven of us flew over the weekend-- me, Hugh, Tim, Greg, RichE, Karen and Mark.

I had a ten minute flight early on Saturday-- made a few passes above the ridge and then zoomed into the LZ to beat a rain squall. Second flight was one hour and seventeen minutes and 3K over with Greg and Tim-- mostly following big lift lines out in the valley. Had a really crappy, scary launch dipping my right wing. Karen flew early on Sunday at 10:45am-- landing after fifteen minutes because her hands got cold. If we had all been at launch at 8:30am on Sunday, we could have probably launched a dozen gliders.

We raised 540 dollars from the party registration and donations. I'll have another 80 once I finalize the sale of a few more T-shirts.

We also gave Emma Jane a half dozen T-shirts-- one for her and the others for her grand-kids that came out and helped with the fire pit.

I have one XL and two mediums left. I can order additional shirts if anyone wants one. Please let me know via PM.

Matthew