Pulpit 11/5 - 11/6

[XCanytime]

Could be marvelous 2 days in a row, at long last. Looking for an XC to Shippensburg Airport, by way of running the ridge up to the old Spring Run launch. Bacil

[bowen.tim]

Remember that day light savings ends on Sunday early AM. Fall back....you get an extra hour of sleep, but gets darker earlier.

[flymiller8]

I'm hoping for a flying weekend. Observers? Looks like it could be good.
-Josh
H2
703-615-8359

[smurfsky101]

Very interested for Saturday

[Dave Gills]

I'm also interested in Saturday

[bowen.tim]

Wind direction looks great on Saturday. I should be there too. Any others? What time? Bacil?

[XCanytime]

Prime time looks like from noon on. I'll be there at 10A. Bacil

[markc]

Considering Pulpit on Sat..... G20 that's currently in the sfc hourly is a bit iffy, and the 3k forecast seems strong. But we'll see tomorrow!

[Dave Gills]

I'm in and bringing a couple of others

[markc]

I'll mosy up there.... I have my doubts (looking pretty strong), but there doesn't seem to be any other option, and hey, sometimes the forecasts are wrong.

[Dave Gills]

Looking too strong now

[bowen.tim]

At the launch.....12 gusting to 17 right now. Slightly from the right

[Eric]

What a sparklin' day at The Pulpit! There wasn't much thermal lift to be had from what I could tell, but the ridge lift was turned up and flowing nicely. I launched my F4 195 into about 12 mph straight in from the big ramp around 3 pm-ish. Many thanks to Mark, Walt, and John M. for the expert assistance, patience, and coaching. I flew for an hour and could've flown longer, but I chose to head to the primary LZ with plenty of altitude in the bank thus had plenty of time to set up a nice DBF and a smooth landing. Hooray for my 3rd mountain launch and 1st soaring flight at the Pulpit. What an amazing site!

[A.Lloyd]

I counted a total of 13 gliders that setup, 12 of them launched and soared. HG Pilots: John M, Bacil, Charlie, Tim, Mark, John (Sailin), Eric, Dave Gills, Josh, Mike, Walt, Don from Montana and myself. Bacil, Tim and Charlie flew earlier on when the air was gusting to 25. The rest of us flew later on in the glass off, including Charlie for a 2nd time. Everyone landed ok

[A.Lloyd]

Oh yeah the king of the hill flew a 2nd time as well.

[mcelrah]

Yesterday I had the duty at the sailplane club in Front Royal, hooking up gliders for aerotow - they found no/no lift. Paragliders abandoned Woodstock because of pronounced west cross and flew at Dickey's with success for some.

I am headed to Woodstock today Sunday with pipes and bag.

- Hugh

[XCanytime]

Arrived at the Pulpit at 9:30A to blue skies and a fresh wind. Decided to give it an early go at 11:15A w/ Charley, Tim, and Don's assistance. Had a good launch from the pad and struggled in conditions that hadn't filled in completely yet. Found some lift out away from the mountain and thought I had ample clearance from the mountain to do a 360. Got dumped out the back of the thermal and found myself heading for the trees uncomfortably close. Got the glider around but way too close. Too aggressive of a move. Down by 16 I found some lift on the way out to land and this time had ample clearance. Circled vainly in light lift and gained 200' back to launch level (mountain is 200' lower by 16) but it quit so I committed to land in the main. Tim gave me a ride back up to launch. Thanks Tim! Back at launch it had picked up some so I quickly set up and gave it another go at 1:15P from the pad. As soon as I said clear and went to take my first step the glider unloaded in the snap of a finger and the basetube hit the gravel pad. Then in the snap of a finger the glider loaded back up again and I was on my way to a nice launch. This incident clearly shows why jackrabbit starts are frowned upon. Now it was easily soarable, yet w/ a north cross. I flew around launch for some spectators that came around a 2nd time to see us fly, giving them hearty waves from a few hundred up over the ramps. Tim and Charley joined me in our quest to find some altitude but none of us could get very high. I believe Tim and Charley both got over 1K' over. The best I could manage was 700' over, and that was way south of launch down near The Corner over a freshly clear cut brown field at the foot of the mountain. It belched out a strong blast of lift that, par for the course, was disorganized and ratty. After it quit and I couldn't find anything else, it had been over an hour in trashy air. I joined Tim and Charley in the main LZ with a landing in breezy west conditions on the ground. They packed up and Charley went for a 2nd flight in the expected glass off. I stayed, enjoying watching the remaining 9 pilots dot the azure blue sky until they all landed before sunset. It's been too many years since we've seen 12 gliders soaring at the Pulpit. Congratulations Eric! Many more to come . Bacil