Pulpit Saturday July 28th

[XCanytime]

Looking flyable at the Pulpit this Saturday. Bacil

[wmelo]

Keeping my fingers crossed

[markc]

Almost hate to risk jinxing things.with a post, given our weekend track record.... But yeah, pretty encouraging for the Pulpit, 36 hours out. Fingers and toes and eyes crossed!

[chuckok]

Crossing fingers

[chuckok]

Looking to the experts... What do you think?

[mcgowantk]

For what it is worth since I am out this weekend, it looks very promising! I hope everyone gets their fill on Saturday.

Tom McGowan

[Dunegoon]

Looking good. Uncross your fingers and get some circulation in them for flying. It's Gecko time...hopefully.

[chuckok]

Ok... I'm in... Icaro single surfece here...
Who else is going to give it a try?

[chuckok]

Lunch time... Or, shortly there after

[silverwings]

I will be there probably by noon. First stopping by LZ to put up a wind sock.

[markc]

I was pretty motivated today : Arrived at launch at 9:30am, put streamers up on the ramps, ditto down in the main and secondary, and then rendezvous'ed with Charlie to leave my vehicle in the LZ.

Oh yeah : Loaded up the vehicle the night before, and was up at 6:00am.

What, me? Just a tad bit hopeful for a decent weekend flying day? After this crappy season?

Nah!

The day did not disappoint! I didn't have major airtime or miles, but I did have about the most fun that I can remember in FOREVER. Launched around 12:30, after Bacil and Charlie. Nick, Chuck, and Eric helped on the wires, thank you very much guys!

(FYI, Nick's hoping to get into flying at some of the area training hills, and he has helped at the Pulpit several times now (not to mention, picking me up today!). So share your insights with him, they will be absorbed!)

I watched Charlie and Bacil head north and round the corner : They wanted to position themselves to the north and had Chambersburg in their sights, I believe. I was flying my Falcon... So after a few half-hearted attempts at following, I got real and hung around the usual triggers between launch and the primary. That eventually paid off, and I found some solid cores that took me to 2K over. Then I found another, and decided to just drift with it over the back. No plans to go anywhere, just thinking I'd head OTB and land at the elementary school. Worked out great, topped out at 4700MSL, and just boated my ass off! Taking in the views and the amazing cloudscapes, swooping around... And then had fun zooming into the school, no-stepper/walk-off landing. It. Was. Great.

Nick came down and picked me up so that we'd have enough crew for the second wave of launches. Thank you much my friend, beats hitchin' !

Oh! And what else???? A new shiny crispy glider for Charlie???? Yup, and he kicked ass on it! Bacil and Charlie both got some miles! Eric Kriner from PA, visiting the site? He soared! And who else? John M, great flight! Anthony, ditto! Rich B had a short one, but got up! Chuck OK elected not to fly because he wasn't feeling all that great, but helped with a bunch of launches. All in all, a wonderful day. Hopefully we'll hear more details from B & C about their flights.

Bacil with a friendly on his 6

Charlie's new wing, pic #1

Charlie's new wing, pic #2

John M and Anthony ready to go

John M, just after launch

[XCanytime]

www.doarama.com/view/2361635

[XCanytime]

Arrived at the Pulpit around 10:30A to find a glider propped up on its control frame and nobody around. Conditions were already soarable and pretty strong, as was indicated by the weather station all morning. On the horizon was a bank of good looking cumulus clouds headed our way. Started setting up and Charley and Mark showed up. They had dropped off Mark's car at the main LZ. Charley brought out his new Moyes Gecko glider with 2 hours of airtime on it. Sweet looking glider. Nick Brown showed up to just help out w/ launches. Thanks Nick! Launched from the new ramp into moderate conditions and got up immediately. However couldn't find a good climb and spent a good half hour at 300'- over to down on the deck. By this time Charley had launched and was soaring to the north of launch. Clouds had reached us by then but we couldn't find any good climbs yet. I got on the deck again and headed down to Rt. 16 below the ridge. Luckily found some lift down there and got back up to a few hundred over. By this time Mark launched and headed my way. Mark and I found some lift and we climbed up, while Charley was above us climbing in the same thermal. I climbed to 3100' MSL and headed north towards the goal of Shippensburg Airport. Charley headed north from 4K'+ MSL as well. By the time I got to where the ridge bends from W facing to WNW facing I was below the ridge. Luckily again I found some lift to give me the much needed clearance from the ridgetop. Charley and I made it up to Cowan's Gap Lake and we both found good thermals to go OTB. We climbed directly over the lake, giving the locals a good show. I got to 4600'+ MSL, while Charley got to 5K'+ MSL (cloudbase). We dove onto the large flank of Kittatinny Mountain and headed north towards Fannettsburg. Charley stayed at cloudbase and I sank down to just a few hundred over. Chose to dive OTB of Kittatinny to the Horse Valley, where nice landing fields beckoned. The fields in Path Valley in front of Kittatinny were far out and not very friendly (full of crops). Found some lift over the valley and clung to it. Dug myself out of the hole and gained up to 4100'+ MSL, enabling me to dive into the wide Cumberland Valley NW of Chambersburg. By this time I was worn out from the active flight, so I didn't try too hard to stay up. Plus nothing was going on but gentle sink, so I enjoyed the glide and searched for a nice place to land. Found a nice grass strip next to a soybean field and came down in smooth air. Another late flare but ran it out. As I was breaking down next to Portico Road just south of the Letterkenny Army Depot a nice gentleman drove up to chat. Clarence Dice ended up giving me and Charley, who landed 2 miles from where I landed, body rides back up to launch. We gave Clarence a tour of the launch as John Middleton was going in to land. Eric Kriner had an excellent XC flight and landed near Green Village, NE of Chambersburg. Mark as described had a really fun flight. I followed Charley to his Tiki Bar where we enjoyed pizza and libations celebrating a helluva maiden flight on his new Gecko glider. Too much fun . Bacil

[Dunegoon]

Not a bad test flight for the Gecko. What really made Bacil's flight epic was the number of times he scraped himself of the ridge and just kept going. He led the way and marked the lift for me. I eventually lost sight of him down on the deck and was assured he was landing. At that point I went into "save my own ass mode" and raced for the open valley and a good LZ. My vario was spazzing out and that was enough for me. Should have stuck around as you can see he got another climb. I gave up at that point and tried to get back to RT 30 for an easier retrieve. The Gecko climbs well, has a nice glide and super landing characteristics. More to come if anyone is interested.

Most memorable thermal over Cowens Gap lake watching the wind lines and climbing like heck...and then following Bacil. That was my first time jumping back from that area and it is not for the faint of heart. Good landing areas between mountains, but you could work yourself into unlandable areas if not careful. Surprised myself by finding a nice open, slightly uphill, virtually no crop field with good retrieval. Quickly broke down the glider and drank a liter of water. Bacil came back to the house for Tiki Bar hour debriefing. Thanks to everyone for their help launching and keeping track of us.


http://doarama.com/view/2362785

[XCanytime]

Eric Kriner's awesome XC flight from the Pulpit yesterday. www.doarama.com/view/2362939 Bacil