Woodstock tomorrow afternoon?
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Woodstock tomorrow afternoon?
Looking good for Woodstock tomorrow (4-10-18) afternoon. Any interest?
Gary Smith
-
silverwings
- Posts: 1243
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:29 pm
- Location: Bethesda, MD
- Contact:
Re: Woodstock tomorrow afternoon?
Gary, I thinking of flying there (PG) maybe around 2 pm. Other PG's are going earlier and later in the day.
john middleton (202)409-2574 c
Re: Woodstock tomorrow afternoon?
The forecast has backed down a bit. It looks great for PG and marginal for HG so I am working in the woodshop today. Hope you all have great flights.
Gary Smith
-
silverwings
- Posts: 1243
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:29 pm
- Location: Bethesda, MD
- Contact:
Re: Woodstock tomorrow afternoon?
A good day at Woodstock on Tuesday 4/10 and besides Tom's epic flight, everyone had soaring flights including Kelvin's first pg soaring flight! Fish had 4 flights and several pilots had two flights. It looked like it may have turned magic around 6 pm with Fish and Klaus flights then. I had a nice flight on my new Iota2.
Below is what Tom Ceunan wrote regarding his flight and I wanted to share it on this site:
Route to Richmond
Forecast
April 10th, 2018 XCSkies forecast was stellar, thermals early till very late and going up to 7000ft. More important lots of sun and no strong winds all the way to 9K.
Woodstock Launch
Felix, Josh, Fish and I got on launch just after noon. The conditions were very sunny almost no clouds and a moderate breeze with thermals rolling in with more strength. While Felix and Fish were still getting ready I launched first so Josh had a reference as second to launch.
First Air
Winds came from the WSW and loaded with small strong thermals it was rock and roll. Soon Josh and myself were boating around together not really getting much higher as launch. In front of launch I entered a small strong core and soon I was going up 6m/s – 1200ft/min
Glide to SNP
Before I knew my fingers started to freeze. I was going to 7Kt feet but aborted the thermal to put on mittens. The best entrance into Browntown is the mountains to the right. From there it goes to North Marshall and The Peak behind it. The Peak was quite turbulent so I aborted climbing and plunged myself into the wide plains of Northern Virginia.
The ideal Route
To avoid Air Traffic and the TFR I took a cap towards Culpepper. The wind was pushing me full East, so I was flying not optimized. One Jet Plane past above and in front of me when I was climbing out but luckily I did not see no more planes nearby for the rest of my flight.
The thermal collectors
The ideal spots to fly to where the dark green of patches woods that contrasted with the lighter fields. The pattern to catch thermals that way was consistent all along. Thermals where strong and narrow drifting with the wind. I got many times very strong sink -5m/s – 1000ft/min followed by nice thermals going up fast.
Culpepper
Before I realized I was in Culpepper. I was not on the speed bar as the mittens don’t give me a good feeling of the glider. The heat packs were too low on the fingers so the fingers top still froze. So instead of speeding I was doing fingers exercises most of the time. I aborted thermals typically around 6K to not get too cold. The times I tried to go higher I really felt cold. My eyes, lips and fingers started to freeze immediately. One time even my whole body got really cold, I was too high.
100km
Looking back the mountains looked very far away, a good sign. Keeping a close eye on my Flymaster I now realized that the Woodstock site record was in reach. Richard Elder had a great flight last year and set the 100km mark on that one. While flying pretty high I passed the 100km mark. My next goal was to take the VA state record which I share with Austin from Edith’s Gap. That’s 127km long.
Lake Anna
Once past Culpepper I was entering new terrain. I never flew here before. To my big surprise Lake Anna popped up at the horizon as a beautiful large lake with thousand fingers. Long and narrow it really looks nice. I flew thermals all along it keeping up with the finger exercise.
Metropolis
Leaving Lake Anna behind I could see very far away the typical shape of an American city. Tall buildings centered at the horizon. I immediately figured out that must be Richmond but still so far away. I was actually hoping to make it to I-95. Looking back to the mountains, they were gone, amazing!
128km
After the last time going to 6000ft I passed the 127km mark. Wish that Austin was with me today. So I needed to set my next goal. In km that’s 150km of course. I was starting to fly a bit lower and my fingers started to feel normal. I know even used my speedbar but my pelvis was cramped up from the cold so I just left to bar quiet.
Rollercoaster
While I was trying to spot I-95 I got my eye on a strange red structure to my front left. After getting closer I recognized the shape of a Rollercoaster. I got my eye on Six Flags from above for the first time.
Airspace
I had my cellphone setup with XCTrack and as Richmond did come closer I decided to give it a look. Oops I was heading straight into Class C airspace, Richmond Airport. So I aborted my ideal down the wind route and made an almost 90 Degrees turn to the right.
Urbanization
Getting closer to Richmond I realized I was getting lower with fewer landing options. The sun was going down fast now but I still got lift at several places. I past the I295-I64 junction filled with commuters trying to get home.
Final leg
Getting lower I started to fly from possible LZ to LZ. They all looked kind of scary but coming from so far I was going to the limit. Amazingly I could still find thermals even being low zooming above trees, houses, structures. The final glide was set in and my eye was on a tiny field next to a road (rt6) going straight into Richmond downtown.
Landing
The terrain was a small grass field in front of a small school building with one school bus. I made a wide turn at the end, put myself in the wind and came down in smooth air. The geese on the grass flew away and I dropped my glider on the parking to avoid the geese poop. There was no welcome crowd, nobody. Only the one empty school bus and a car. Meanwhile the sun was about to disappear. Flying XC till sunset that has been a long while ago for me. After some safety calls and pictures I started to pack up.
Back home
While packing up a Van pulled up and a woman got out walking to the only car on the parking lot. I approached here and asked her a ride explaining my unique situation. Oh yeah I help you out she said. Wow, 20 minutes later I was at the Amtrak station (7:50PM) and the last train DC bound was about to arrive. At 8:06PM I was on the train to DC. Next DC metro to Reston and Uber to my home arriving at midnight.
VA PG XC record (straight line take off to landing)
159km – 6h18min
The movie
https://vimeo.com/264695372
The Track
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1927307
The Doarama
http://doarama.com/view/2030717
Below is what Tom Ceunan wrote regarding his flight and I wanted to share it on this site:
Route to Richmond
Forecast
April 10th, 2018 XCSkies forecast was stellar, thermals early till very late and going up to 7000ft. More important lots of sun and no strong winds all the way to 9K.
Woodstock Launch
Felix, Josh, Fish and I got on launch just after noon. The conditions were very sunny almost no clouds and a moderate breeze with thermals rolling in with more strength. While Felix and Fish were still getting ready I launched first so Josh had a reference as second to launch.
First Air
Winds came from the WSW and loaded with small strong thermals it was rock and roll. Soon Josh and myself were boating around together not really getting much higher as launch. In front of launch I entered a small strong core and soon I was going up 6m/s – 1200ft/min
Glide to SNP
Before I knew my fingers started to freeze. I was going to 7Kt feet but aborted the thermal to put on mittens. The best entrance into Browntown is the mountains to the right. From there it goes to North Marshall and The Peak behind it. The Peak was quite turbulent so I aborted climbing and plunged myself into the wide plains of Northern Virginia.
The ideal Route
To avoid Air Traffic and the TFR I took a cap towards Culpepper. The wind was pushing me full East, so I was flying not optimized. One Jet Plane past above and in front of me when I was climbing out but luckily I did not see no more planes nearby for the rest of my flight.
The thermal collectors
The ideal spots to fly to where the dark green of patches woods that contrasted with the lighter fields. The pattern to catch thermals that way was consistent all along. Thermals where strong and narrow drifting with the wind. I got many times very strong sink -5m/s – 1000ft/min followed by nice thermals going up fast.
Culpepper
Before I realized I was in Culpepper. I was not on the speed bar as the mittens don’t give me a good feeling of the glider. The heat packs were too low on the fingers so the fingers top still froze. So instead of speeding I was doing fingers exercises most of the time. I aborted thermals typically around 6K to not get too cold. The times I tried to go higher I really felt cold. My eyes, lips and fingers started to freeze immediately. One time even my whole body got really cold, I was too high.
100km
Looking back the mountains looked very far away, a good sign. Keeping a close eye on my Flymaster I now realized that the Woodstock site record was in reach. Richard Elder had a great flight last year and set the 100km mark on that one. While flying pretty high I passed the 100km mark. My next goal was to take the VA state record which I share with Austin from Edith’s Gap. That’s 127km long.
Lake Anna
Once past Culpepper I was entering new terrain. I never flew here before. To my big surprise Lake Anna popped up at the horizon as a beautiful large lake with thousand fingers. Long and narrow it really looks nice. I flew thermals all along it keeping up with the finger exercise.
Metropolis
Leaving Lake Anna behind I could see very far away the typical shape of an American city. Tall buildings centered at the horizon. I immediately figured out that must be Richmond but still so far away. I was actually hoping to make it to I-95. Looking back to the mountains, they were gone, amazing!
128km
After the last time going to 6000ft I passed the 127km mark. Wish that Austin was with me today. So I needed to set my next goal. In km that’s 150km of course. I was starting to fly a bit lower and my fingers started to feel normal. I know even used my speedbar but my pelvis was cramped up from the cold so I just left to bar quiet.
Rollercoaster
While I was trying to spot I-95 I got my eye on a strange red structure to my front left. After getting closer I recognized the shape of a Rollercoaster. I got my eye on Six Flags from above for the first time.
Airspace
I had my cellphone setup with XCTrack and as Richmond did come closer I decided to give it a look. Oops I was heading straight into Class C airspace, Richmond Airport. So I aborted my ideal down the wind route and made an almost 90 Degrees turn to the right.
Urbanization
Getting closer to Richmond I realized I was getting lower with fewer landing options. The sun was going down fast now but I still got lift at several places. I past the I295-I64 junction filled with commuters trying to get home.
Final leg
Getting lower I started to fly from possible LZ to LZ. They all looked kind of scary but coming from so far I was going to the limit. Amazingly I could still find thermals even being low zooming above trees, houses, structures. The final glide was set in and my eye was on a tiny field next to a road (rt6) going straight into Richmond downtown.
Landing
The terrain was a small grass field in front of a small school building with one school bus. I made a wide turn at the end, put myself in the wind and came down in smooth air. The geese on the grass flew away and I dropped my glider on the parking to avoid the geese poop. There was no welcome crowd, nobody. Only the one empty school bus and a car. Meanwhile the sun was about to disappear. Flying XC till sunset that has been a long while ago for me. After some safety calls and pictures I started to pack up.
Back home
While packing up a Van pulled up and a woman got out walking to the only car on the parking lot. I approached here and asked her a ride explaining my unique situation. Oh yeah I help you out she said. Wow, 20 minutes later I was at the Amtrak station (7:50PM) and the last train DC bound was about to arrive. At 8:06PM I was on the train to DC. Next DC metro to Reston and Uber to my home arriving at midnight.
VA PG XC record (straight line take off to landing)
159km – 6h18min
The movie
https://vimeo.com/264695372
The Track
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/flight/1927307
The Doarama
http://doarama.com/view/2030717
john middleton (202)409-2574 c