Pulpit Sunday PM May 20th

[XCanytime]

Looks flyable, at long last. Looks soarable to boot . Bacil

[wmelo]

well, if the flying conditions are walt-able, I will be there. Walt

[markc]

Watching/Hopeful!

[silverwings]

Might be too windy there but suitable at Woodstock!

[XCanytime]

W @ 11 MPH at Hagerstown? Couldn't get much better for the Pulpit. Once the rain clears, BINGO! Bacil

[markc]

Leaning toward Pulpit at the moment.

3k winds on the ADDS forecast are strong-ish early, but supposed to back off significantly by 18Z.

Current surface map is a tangled mess of fronts, so who knows what will happen? Will check early tomorrow to see which way the wind's blowing.

[silverwings]

According to xcskies the Pulpit is going to be breezy 18mph at 2K (near launch altitude) with stronger higher for most of the day. Woodstock should be 12-13 mph a little stronger as you get higher. The Pulpit is closer for me but what good is that if it is strong. Will check in the morning but I am tending toward Woodstock.

[XCanytime]

The Pulpit is closer for me but what good is that if it is strong.

What good is that? Strong means guaranteed ridge soarable. That's what's good. You can't have everything . If you can't get up early enough to get to launch before it gets too strong for your tastes then opt for the late PM throttleback. It ain't gonna be outta hand. It's too warm, and the front that is moving thru is not even close to being a strong spring front. There should be at least 6 pilots showing up. Launches should commence as soon as it gets ridge soarable, say noon +/- thirty. Check out the hourly forecast for HGR from 11A to 7P on weather.com. Bacil

[wmelo]

Planning to @ Pulpit in the morning ETA 11am

[bustedwing2]

Pulpit!

[silverwings]

I am still feeling Woodstock is the better choice and thinking of ETA around 1 PM. Any other takers?

[markc]

ADDS 3k forecast has been bumped up a bit. That front still doesn't seem to know what it's doing. More sun at WS. So I don't think it's a slam-dunk Pulpit day....

That said, I'm heading that way. Will check the post-10am updates from the road, and re-evaluate if there are significant changes.

[XCanytime]

www.doarama.com/view/2149800

[bustedwing2]

2 flew early,3 flew late.WooHoo! Thanks to the excellent wire crew.

[XCanytime]

Arrived at 10:30A to winds 6 to 12 MPH STFI, and a transitioning sky. Set up and got ready to go as soon as the wind showed signs of picking up to the 12 to 18 MPH range, as well as no nasty looking echoes on the radar upwind. Launched from the newer ramp in a moderate cycle just after 12:30P and tried to round the corner to the north but couldn't find enough altitude to do it in north cross conditions. Saw great looking clouds way south of the Rt. 16 crossing so I beelined it there, getting a nice push from behind by the north cross. While down there I saw Walt had launched and gotten up. Finally found a good climb to 4K' MSL and considered going OTB there, but saw to the north that the sky had filled in. With a goal of Shippensburg Airport still burning inside, I headed back north as I saw Walt go in to land in the main LZ. I plodded past launch and finally found some ratty lift to enable me to round the corner. Flew up to north of Cowans Gap Lake and staged there to jump OTB to Kittatinny Mountain and run it to the NE. At this point I had been flying in active air for 1.5 hours, and I was tired and thirsty. I opted to get enough altitude to go OTB and land in Path Valley, near Metal, PA. Found some ratty lift to 3K' MSL and headed downwind. Flew over farm fields and ended up belly flopping onto a grassy field by Rt. 75. Was so tired that I didn't have the strength to execute a decent flare. Won't pile on the steamed crabs and beer the night before ever again . Mike Jones pulled up in his Kubota runabout to make sure I was OK. His granddaughters were enjoying the outdoor pool and watched me fly over. We chatted and I found out he owns Gish Logging, Inc., producers of HOTSTICKS - Premium Kiln Dried Packaged Firewood. During the winter we would buy HOTSTICKS from the local 7-11 to burn in our fireplace, and I noticed that the company that produced the firewood was located in Ft. Loudon, PA, right next to the Pulpit. And here I land on the Vice President of the company's property . The property was enclosed by a 15' high fence, with an electric gate to enter and exit. Mike ended up giving me a ride back to launch to fetch my truck. After retrieving my stuff, took the scenic way back up Stumpy Lane to Cowans Gap State Park and on up Aughwick Creek Road to Rt. 30. At launch it was honking. As I was leaving around 6:15P Charley was preparing to launch. He was on the ramp for nearly 20 minutes before he took off. The last 2 pilots who flew were Rich and Jim MacNutt from Vermont, in Falcons. Bacil

[markc]

Early and late flights at the Pulpit.... How did things work out at Woodstock for the hangies? And the PGers?

[A.Lloyd]

John and I got to WS around 1:15, dropped a car and drove up.. The slot has patchy weeds The gravel is holding up OK. Zach was setting up with a swarm of knats around him. The sky was overcast with a lower level southerly flow. As the sky started to clear we could see the upper cloud shadows moving fast over the ground from the NW. Jeff arrived followed by Dan. We hung around at the bench area for a while. Then John and I cleared with a small sickle. The accuweather forecast for Woodstock was actually accurate. The flying conditions turned on and the sky looked good at 3:30. All of us livened up especially Jeff. Zach was ready to go and took off at about 3:45 on his Sport 2 155 into the west cross. I didn't see him again until later in the LZ area. Next off was Jeff on his PG. He was bobbing around out in front. John contacted him on the radio. He said that he was testing out conditions and started using a technique called “ears” where both wing tips are folded under making the wing look smaller. It looked cool and was entertaining to watch. Randy showed up with his PG wing. Next, Dan and John were taking turns on launch with their PGs. I was checking the tower weather station. It made me aware of real time launch conditions, WNW 6.5 to 13MPH. The wind was bouncing up and around the slot as they were wanting to get off the mountain. Dan got away and soared straight up and out in the valley. The air looked smooth once he got up. He later indicated that there was a significant W cross. Randy gave me some encouragement to fly my HG. He left to make his sons baby shower. George showed up after teaching at long hill. A couple of bikers joined the mix for a few. I launched into the glass off and soared around about 500’ over. I saw Dan heading out and landing. I landed. Zack was near the landing area. He said he got to cloud base w/ 3 or 4 climbs and landed in Front Royal. I drove Dan and Zack back to launch and headed home.

[markc]

Glad to hear that things worked out at WStock!
I was torn between the fact that conditions could be post-frontal-strong at the Pulpit, while cross and very late to switch at WS. Tough call.... But at least there was flying at both sites, how often does that happen?

[Dunegoon]

Jim wanted me to post post some air to air footage that I got. It was cool that I could see Jim below his sail and smooth control movements. Often he was higher than me. Some nice lift lines and gentle lift. His new F4 is a beautiful glider and it performed extremely well. It was mello at the end of the day....Nice flying with you Jim.

https://vimeo.com/272138525