Woodstock weekend 4/2 - 4/3

[smurfsky101]

Not yet. The very friendly landowners have my info and are going to be asking around town for me, and i've spoken with the police.

If it shows up on eBay, CL i'll see it....

Just put a post up on the hanggliding.org classifieds, too

[smurfsky101]

Also @Knut here's the view-only version as requested

https://doarama.com/view/700597

[wmelo]

my 2 cents.

I arrived by lunch time. the flying conditions were 100% "waltable." After helping John D., Bacil, and Knut, I took off with the assistance of Hugh, Gary, and Ricky. I had no problems to fly over the ridge. According to my altimeter, I flew for 1h, got 1305m (4281ft MSL). The air was turbulent with strong thermals and strong sinks. Due to my inexperience, I left a good thermals that was pushing me behind the ridge, and try to move to the front of the ridge. I entered a strong sink area. Naively, I pull the VG and continue to move straight. When I was finally in front of the ridge, I realized that I lost a lot of altitude and continued to sink. I hesitating in moving North and be in an area far way from a landing field, or try to find a thermal close to the landing field that I ended up landing. After trying to hang in a thermal above the river, I gave up and landed in a huge field in front of me. As commented in another thread, the landowner was not very friendly.

Finally, Bacil and Ricky showed up to rescue: thank you again guys!

[XCanytime]

@Bacil -
Thanks for showing me the way with your ridge run to climb out / over the Edinburg Gap!

I got stuck behind you for a little bit trying to find the right elevator ride to take me over, I was getting terrible L/D, probably doesnt help that I wear a big fluffy down jacket that flaps @ speed.
My attempts from 4.5K to make it over weren't even enough, it took close to 5500ft MSL for me to make the jump. probably could have found a different way of doing it, but was a good learning experience.

It sure is extremely intimidating to be stuck w/ disappearing lift as it switches to the West over Short mountain... I was scratching for a while w/ no exit until I found a thermal that took me high enough to get the hell out of there.

How's the lift over the flats (springtime) W of the ridge?

My plan was to parallel 81 and try to hopskotch thermals down there

John it is a technical challenge most of the time to jump the Edinburg Gap. It most often takes patience and perseverance. It had been discussed recently in a thread from the 1/16/16 flights at Woodstock almost 3 months ago. But to reiterate here, a solid strategy is to first climb to at least 4K'+ MSL over the rockpiles just shy of Waonaze Peak. Then fly out into the valley directly towards the landing fields along the Edinburg Gap Road. If you sink out you have the safe option of the fields to land in. You should be able to reach them unless you encounter a severe headwind and severe sink. If this scenario occurs, then you have to bail and run back to the ridge, which is what your flight track revealed. It looked as though you employed the aforementioned strategy, but you started way too low on your first initial runs toward the Edinburg Gap fields. Finally when you climbed to the 4K'+ MSL (5500' MSL) altitude you were able to jump the gap successfully. Congratulations on that.

Now you are on Short Mountain, and all you see is trees , and it is an intimidating sight. I have heard pilots on the radio voicing their fears and saying that they are going into the trees at the SW end of Short Mountain. Hearing that early in my flying career kept me from jumping onto Short Mountain for a long time. I did a lot of map study and reading about others' ridge run flights before trying it myself. Your flight track down near the SW end of Short Mountain reveals that you were pretty much in the same position. Glad that the boomer gave you plenty of breathing room to glide out and land by Rt. 11. One thing is when you get on Short Mountain, you should be able to tell if the ridge is providing solid ridge lift. If it is not, then it probably isn't a good day to try to run the ridge (unless you are getting stinkin' high in thermals > 6K'+ MSL). The 2 options usually are (1) catch a boomer like you did and glide out into the valley and land, or (2) turn around and run back towards launch (helps with a west cross = quartering tailwind) and either land by the Edinburg Gap Road or catch a thermal to cross over the gap and get back on the main ridge (like I did).

I do remember a flight that Marc Fink did on 3/28/99 where he literally flew down the valley in a super glass off and made it to Massanutten Peak w/o ever being on the ridge past the Edinburg Gap. He flew way upwind before the gap and just paralleled Rt. 11/I-81 all the way down. Amazing flight.

Once again, congratulations on a good flight (lessons learned) and I hope your glider turns up very soon. Bacil

[Ward Odenwald]

Now you are on Short Mountain, and all you see is trees, and it is an intimidating sight.

Realizing just how faraway potential LZs are, is sobering to say the least! You’re now in an environment where staying in lift is everything.

Here’s a leeward view of Short taken last Tuesday. Wasn’t high enough to worry about the sea of trees out in front of it as I was dealing with the ocean of trees behind it.

If flying close to potential LZs is an essential part of one’s flight plan, then Short and the rest of ridges south of the Edinburg Gap should be avoided.

Ward

[mcelrah]

Yup, I have only done Short when ridge lift was solid. One way to know that is to see another glider in front of you going up. Team flying is the way to go! Get in a gaggle with an experienced leader or three. - Hugh

[markc]

I realize that this might be in the "too little, too late" category.... But a useful practice after landing out is to stash your glider along a tree line, or along a ditch, or along a fence line, or anything that will help keep it off-the-radar of the casual passer-by. It might be harder to find when you return, but the extra hassle can be worth it. Really sorry to hear that your glider may have been knicked John, that completely sucks.