Woodstock Sunday May 7, 2017

[Joe Schad]

Hoping to fly Woodstock tomorrow. Probably cannot leave the house until 12:30-1pm. It is going to be a bit cold in the morning.

How many folks plan to fly?

Joe

[silverwings]

Most likely going to go arriving 2ish.

[silverwings]

Just got to see XC Skies and may not be going. Looks windy.

[silverwings]

Fair improvement of forecast with xcSkies.

[Joe Schad]

Winds look on the edge of too high. Still looking to go down to Woodstock but not certain I will fly.

[Blaine]

I'm headed that way.

[Blaine]

Wind is slightly cross from the north at 5 to 7 mph with overcast skies.

[Blaine]

Cloud cover is burning off. There is some blue over the valley. Wind is mostly straight in 8 to 10 with some gusts to 13.

[XCanytime]

Arrived just after noon to find Blaine in the parking lot. We went up to launch and the conditions were mild to moderate. I set up but Blaine decided after partially setting up not to fly. Then these 3 young guys from the Marine establishment at Quantico showed up, with one of them bringing along a pack that looked like it housed a PG and wearing a cheap plastic Pro-Tec type helmet. I did not recognize him but let him know in no uncertain terms that it was not a day to paraglide from Woodstock, let alone possibly not a day to hang glide either. He went on to state that he flew yesterday from Woodstock in the PG that was in the pack, and tried a 2nd flight but ended up in the trees, and that he got the PG off of Ebay, and that his flight yesterday was his first flight in a PG . WTF! I let him know again in no uncertain terms that what he did yesterday is not acceptable and why it is not acceptable, and that he's lucky he's not dead. He had skydiving experience, that's it. He had kited the PG. That's it. In the next few moments Walt, Joe, and Gary showed up. I saddled up to fly since conditions were moderate, but there was some darkness to the west over in WV. John McCallister showed up just before my good launch and I climbed up immediately in front of the slot. Went north and the darkness turned into a isolated shower cell that was slowly making its way west. It was at the border of the valley. I fled to the north trying to outrun it. Lots of turbulence on the ridge. The cell spread laterally and was now in the valley. I contemplated landing at a field up by Funk Road, but a very strong north cross and turbulence convinced me to abandon that plan and run downwind off Signal Knob and land as far away from this cell as I could. I was only about 200' above the radio tower when I headed to the east to find a suitable field to land in. Chose one further downwind but saw a fence bisected the field. At this point the turbulence from the cell had made its way to where I was . It was a chore to keep the glider on an even keel. I decided on the field right below me that had a tree line right next to it. I really didn't want to land there with the possibility of rotor off of the tree line, but from watching the wind gusts on the surface move the knee high grass around from north to south I resolved to aim north parallel to the tree line. Had the bar stuffed but I literally descended straight down to just above the grass pointing north since the swirls below me were coming from that direction. Decided to belly it in so a gentle push out just before the grass resulted in a gentle touchdown on my belly. Walt came and fetched me. Thanks Walt! On the way back ran into Jim Gibson and his wife Marzena leaving via Fort Valley. Jim plans to fly tomorrow at Woodstock. Back at launch Joe packed up, and Gary launched in a sink cycle and ended up with a short flight, landing in the pond field. Walt wanted to fly, but the skies upwind looked ominous, and I reminded him that he's got the day off tomorrow to fly at Woodstock, and it wasn't worth it. Both Joe and Gary plan on coming back tomorrow. The forecast is MUCH BETTER . Today's flight had the worst turbulence I have ever experienced in 23+ years of mountain flying. It was amazing how quick that dark area blew up into a major cell and expanded horizontally. It was not a wise decision for me to fly today. Bacil

[mingram]

Sounds like a sporty day. I hope the PG pilot takes your advice. Did you happen to mention we have a PG instructor Peter who lives in Woodstock?

Matt

[garys]

Crazy day at Woodstock with the storms and west cross. I gave it a try about 4:30 after things seemed to settle down a bit and took a light cycle to launch in. Turned out to be a big sink cycle as I dove out of the slot and decided to turn right to work the west face of the north finger in the west cross. I was down in the "mixing bowl" for about 10 minutes and fought the good fight but a gravity storm caught up with me. I had to land in the square pond field as there was no way to make it back to the bridge fields. The square pond field owner politely asked me not to land there again and to spread the word to my flying friends. Thanks to Joe Schad for the retrieve. We got my glider on the truck just before the last storm of the day hit. I won't be flying Woodstock in a west cross again so flying is out for me today although it looks better today with more sun.

[mingram]

Thanks for the LZ info Gary. We'll update the google site guide.