AM Foot Launch Training 4/13/19
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
AM Foot Launch Training 4/13/19
Any interest in doing AM hill training at SB before the memorial winery event?
Re: AM Foot Launch Training 4/13/19
I might try to work up some enthusiasm for an early day at SBurg.... Wasn't on my radar until you mentioned it Anthony. For that matter, Pulpit might be ok before 1:00pm. Hmm..... Other interested pilots out there?
Re: AM Foot Launch Training 4/13/19
[Apologies for posting in both the SBurg and Pulpit topics, probably should have just stuck with this one]
Over in the Pulpit topic, I said "perfect!" at about 11:30 at Smithsburg. And that lasted long enough for both Anthony and I to have a flight apiece. Then conditions started to go cross from the left. I was thinking "uh-oh"
But the day turned out to be EXCELLENT for a practice day! Yup, cross at times. Yup, blowing down the hill at times (L&V). But after those first flights, if you were patient, you were rewarded with cycles that ranged from straight-in to 40-degrees cross. And d@mn! That cross out of the W was just super-smooth and mellow! I can't remember when I last had an outright FUN day at the hill. Zooming around, pushin' out, looking over at the hill, all the socks/streamers in agreement down below, no-step landings. Woo-hoo!
Now, this all said... I did blow a launch. Major sigh. It was early, my second flight. We'd had a *long* period of crappy winds, blowing downhill for quite a while. I was getting impatient, "Not going to come out all this way for one frickin' flight!". Eventually there was a lull and I tried a no-winder. But it wasn't from the steepest point of the hill, and my run was far from energetic enough to pull it off. Luckily, the glider just plopped back onto the hillside (me, off the d-tubes and balled-up) maybe 30 feet down, no damage, everything pretty level. Completely lucked-out on that one!
I dialed it back ("maybe we fly, maybe we don't") and made darn sure to run my @ss off for the next 5 flights. Always a bit weird to jump back on the horse when you've screwed something up like that, but I'm really glad I did : Some of the best fun I've had at Smithsburg.
WIll try to post a few pics from the day tomorrow.... Big thanks to Anthony for providing some motivation to give SB a whirl!
Over in the Pulpit topic, I said "perfect!" at about 11:30 at Smithsburg. And that lasted long enough for both Anthony and I to have a flight apiece. Then conditions started to go cross from the left. I was thinking "uh-oh"
But the day turned out to be EXCELLENT for a practice day! Yup, cross at times. Yup, blowing down the hill at times (L&V). But after those first flights, if you were patient, you were rewarded with cycles that ranged from straight-in to 40-degrees cross. And d@mn! That cross out of the W was just super-smooth and mellow! I can't remember when I last had an outright FUN day at the hill. Zooming around, pushin' out, looking over at the hill, all the socks/streamers in agreement down below, no-step landings. Woo-hoo!
Now, this all said... I did blow a launch. Major sigh. It was early, my second flight. We'd had a *long* period of crappy winds, blowing downhill for quite a while. I was getting impatient, "Not going to come out all this way for one frickin' flight!". Eventually there was a lull and I tried a no-winder. But it wasn't from the steepest point of the hill, and my run was far from energetic enough to pull it off. Luckily, the glider just plopped back onto the hillside (me, off the d-tubes and balled-up) maybe 30 feet down, no damage, everything pretty level. Completely lucked-out on that one!
I dialed it back ("maybe we fly, maybe we don't") and made darn sure to run my @ss off for the next 5 flights. Always a bit weird to jump back on the horse when you've screwed something up like that, but I'm really glad I did : Some of the best fun I've had at Smithsburg.
WIll try to post a few pics from the day tomorrow.... Big thanks to Anthony for providing some motivation to give SB a whirl!