Prospects for Sun06Jan

[markc]

An initial look at the 'casts as of Friday PM is hinting at strong NW 3k conditions, and light 7-8 NW surface conditions. Could be a repeat of last Saturday's Woodstock day???

[wmelo]

Woodstock looks promising...

I am looking forward to open my winds

[markc]

I think I'll try to be upwind when that happens Walt.

[mcgowantk]

I am looking at it for Sunday. Tom NcGowan

[garys]

Warning; No open flames near Walt. I will be at Woodstock tomorrow at noon. Should be a great day. Come on out.

[silverwings]

I am tentatively planning on coming in the early afternoon. My ankle has been bothering me lately but I am hopeful it will be OK in the morning. Will post my intentions Sunday morning.

[markc]

Hope your ankle will let you fly tomorrow John!

Attempting to keep my excitement in check..... But the glider is already on the vehicle, *smile*

[rlweber]

ETA 1:15

Randy

[silverwings]

I am going, eta bridge field about 1 PM. It looks windy above launch if you get 3K+ above but lift not that strong today so it should not be a problem.

[markc]

Well! This was certainly a kick-ass day, wasn't it?

I'm not gonna say more than that, 'cause I want to hear some excitement from somebody other than myself!

I will say that it was *damn cool* to see eight pilots breaking down at the bridge field at sunset, after a great day of flying.

Had several issues today, so no pics, no video. Hoping someone else has some?????

[rlweber]

Fun day at Woodstock. Launched at 3:27, after the second ramp up calmed down. Went south, hoping to get high enough to cross the gap and continue towards home, but that did not happen so I went back and landed in the bridge field. Boy do I love landing in that field! I did not have my balaclava so I felt the cold and was glad to land after 1:05 in the air. Max above launch was 1877 ft. This was my second January flight at Woodstock in 6 days, amazing. The pilots from Buffalo (I think) also made their second trek, in six, days to Woodstock. They were into marathon 3 hour flights. They launched before the ramp up. Great flying with everybody. Thanks to Gary S. for the batten tips to repair the old ones.

Randy

[LikeToFly]

It was a great day to visit, meet the group and learn about the Woodstock site by watching many launches. I look forward to coming again and doing a first flight there. Thanks! Aron

[markc]

You know that saying, "It takes a village"?

My glider was on a very steep part of the hill, half setup, after we had shifted gliders around a bit. I'm tensioning the sail with Aron's help (everything is way tighter since the sail was removed, glider inspected, and then sail remounted) on the crossbar junction. Pulled back, and "Twang!". I look down, and there's a 10-inch length of my #2 batten sitting on the ground. WTH????

It becomes clear that the end of the batten must have gotten snagged behind the left rear wire. Picture an initial haul-back, then a partial release, then a second pull. As the wing tightened/released/tightened, the batten slipped behind the wire. Whoops!

So I'm like "K guys, ya'll got a chase driver".

Then Tom says "maybe you could sleeve it?"

Then Aron says "maybe use a length of fiberglass rod to bridge the break?"

So that's what we do. And Aron kindly sacrificed an LZ flag (saving me a trip down to my vehicle!), provided a hacksaw, and some electrical tape. With some prying, a 10 inch segment could be worked into both pieces, with judiciously placed wraps of elec tape to keep it snug in both. Then a length of duct tape rolled around the batten (imagine rolling a cigarette), and I was totally good to go, woohoo!

But then... As I'm restuffing the battens I had pulled... I find that I've lost a batten tip, grrrrrr! Tom steps over to help ("I'm a really good looker", hah!), but I give up, could be anywhere given all the shifting around that had occurred.

Then John M says "I might have a spare tip in my parts bag in the vehicle". Another trip down/back the mountain saved!

And as we return to launch.... Tom had found the batten tip. Yer frickin kidding me!

Have you seen Gary Smith's DVD of local HG/PG flying, from a few years back? Near the end he's got a great segment with "Get By With A Little Help From My Friends", Beatles tune, for the soundtrack. That's exactly what the day was about, I got to enjoy a sweet late day flight of about an hour, last to launch, last to land. Spinning around in the sunset light. Thank you friends/village, you made it a great day!

MarkC

[Ward Odenwald]

Mark, I'm trying to “wrap my brain around” what happened to sever your #2 inboard batten. Before any of us can make sense of this, please tell us on what glider (T2 or Falcon) and how a #2 batten on either of these (or any glider) can be inserted into a wing resulting in its last 10 inches being hooked around a rear wire. On most, if not all gliders, battens can be inserted into the wings only after the leading edges are partially extended when the #2 batten end is far from flying wires. Regardless of how the #2 batten was severed, when tensioning a HG sail, the pilot has a "front row" seat watching the trailing edge of the wings extend. Please give us more info.

Ward

[markc]

Trying to wrap my head around it too Ward!

T2C. Normal/typical set-up, first three battens inserted on both sides (not yet secured via the lever-tips), wings pulled out about two thirds, ready for tensioning.

The wing was sittting there for a bit while I ran a shuttle.

We picked up the wing and moved it up-hill to make room for other gliders. Steep section of the hill. Re-spreading the wings as much as they'll go is pretty much a requirement at that point, otherwise there's no way that you'll be able to tension the wing at all (or at least, I can't do so!).

So my only idea is that the batten slid down a bit during that move (but not radically/obviously). And then, during the pull-relax-pull cycle, it might have slipped a bit further down, just enough to catch behind the rear wire at the time of the second pull. We had multiple pilots having a look, trying to figure out the possible scenarios.

What surprised me the most is that there wasn't an unusual amount of resistance during the haulback, it didn't feel at all like anything was hung up. Just "twang!", and there's a portion of the batten on ground. I had a very hard time believing what I was seeing.

But, with the glider sitting at a steep angle.. Perhaps the forces involved when I pulled back (with gravity's help) could really settle-in, along the plane of the keel... And they would be a lot more than a typical set-up on more level ground?? That's all I've got for theories at the moment.

First time anything like that has ever happened to me! I'll have a look at the batten to see where the actual point of the break was.

[Ward Odenwald]

Thanks for the additional details. May never know just how the break occurred but your experience is certainly is a reminder to all of us to double check batten integrity during glider assembly and pre-flight. With the newer, tighter double surfaced 20 plus batten sails it’s a safety check that requires extra-diligence.

Ward