The flying gods smiled on the club this weekend! Weather and conditions were great yesterday (Saturday) and look to be just as good today. Winds were blowing strong, from W to NW all day long, averaging 12-15 with gusts up to 20.
Sparky, Matthew, and Marcel Dettling did some PG flying early before winds ramped up. Bacil Dickert was first off around noon and reported conditions a bit strong for H2s before heading over the back. John Dullahan, Dan Tomlinson, and Hank Hengst followed. All had XCs ranging from 13mi for Hank (after a spectacular low save over the LZ!) to 26mi for Dan Tomlinson, who reported seeing an entire field of corn at 3-4k.
The next wave off the ramp included Carlos Weill, Linda Baskerville, Steve Padgett, Dave Bodner, myself, and Bill Priday. Everyone got some nice ridge soaring flights. (I was happy with 50 minutes for my first-ever Pulpit flight!)
Chris McKee did his usual excellent job as fly-in safety director and ramp manager...and excited the crowd with a full-body tackle of Matthew who was headed for the woods in his PG after a valiant launch attempt in strong winds. ("Aww look---you guys are spooning!" cried Sparky. Much laughter ensued as all was well.)
Finally, the late-day glass-off wave launched, including Gary Smith, Mark Cavanaugh, Dave Rice, Mark Gardener, Christy Huddle, Karen Carra, Linda Baskerville (for a second flight) and several other pilots who I forget (with apologies). Everyone boated around above the ridge for 1-2hrs.
Winds blew right up 'til dark and kept on blowing as the full moon rose. The campfire started, food was arrayed, the keg was tapped, guitars and African xylophones filled the air with melody, and a great time was had by all! Kudos to Daniel Broxterman for such a great job running the fly-in (including some really slick new banners, slick recycling and trash signs, and no-parking sandwich boards along the road to launch).
The evening raffle was good entertainment, with a slew of gifts ranging from Flytec speedsleeves to DVDs by Paul "James Bond" Hamilton and Gary Smith, a 10-aerotow packgage from Highland Aerosports, license plate holders, t-shirts and caps from Moyes, and a coveted Kestrel wind meter, won in the final round by Linda Baskerville.
Today looks like another excellent flying opportunity for all, so if you missed yesterday, come on out today! I'm off to load the truck and head back up myself.
Scott
Quick Fly-In Report: Saturday
Moderator: CHGPA BOD