Pulpit weekend 8/29 - 8/30

[XCanytime]

Looks like the weekend doldrums will finally come to an end next weekend. Looking to get out after work on Saturday and fly on Sunday too. Initial indications are a W/NW pattern over the weekend. Bacil

[krryerson]

Have to work this weekend!
Knut

[A.Lloyd]

I'm hoping to be there on Sunday early enough to take a flight.

[markc]

I've got my eye on Sunday as well.

The ADDs 3k forecast currently lightens up dramatically around 1pm, so that's a pretty good sign given the usual +10 rule for the Pulpit.

[Ward Odenwald]

ETA 9:15

Ward

[XCanytime]

Good day at the Pulpit. Got there at 8:25A to soarable conditions and cumie filled skies. Allen, a returning pilot, had stayed overnight and had his glider partially set up. I set up quickly and waited for wire crew. Ward showed up around 9A, Rich about 9:30A just to help out, and Charley about 9:45A. Had a good launch from the newer ramp around 10A, with a goal of a ~6 hour flight to the SAC . Not many clouds around launch, so I headed south to a nice looking cloud street. Base at this time was around 5K+ MSL; the best I could climb to was around 3200' MSL. The lift was broken, narrow, and turbulent. Headed back to launch in a strong cross and ratty air. By the time I got there, I was barely above launch. So I repeated the cycle again: to the south, climb again to 3K+ MSL, then head back to launch. This time a cloud street was over the SW facing ridge to the right, so by the time I got back to launch, I went over the power lines to search for lift under the street. I found some light lift that got me just above the ridge, so I soldiered on and made it around the corner to the west facing part of the ridge. Flew along the west facing part of the ridge at a few hundred over towards the next corner where the ridge doglegs right to face WNW. By the time I got close to the corner, I found lots of sink. I kept going, but more sink scraped me off the ridge and now I had to land out. The choices were not great, and the better fields I could not reach since I had lost too much altitude. So I decided to put down in chest high brush in an open area just next to a nice field behind a house on Rt. 522. I nailed a good landing, making damn sure I kept the control frame out of the brush, and treating the top of the brush as the ground. Carried thru the briars and brush to break down in the driveway, and get retrieved by Charley. That was enough excitement for me for the day, after 1:15 in the air. Back at launch Tom McGowan had just arrived; Mark Cavanaugh was setting up, and Walt, Anthony, and Nick Brown were helping Ward launch. Ward soon launched and had a nice flight, getting to cloudbase and landing out at the golf course driving range. Tom followed later, and got up easy. Next Mark took off, and got up easy. They spent some time at cloudbase, which by this time was 7200' MSL. Charley launched later, and had a short soaring flight. I drove down to retrieve Charley, and Mark and Tom had landed in the main LZ after Charley. Back at launch Charley, Tom, and I helped Anthony take off after the atmosphere took a deep breath. Anthony had a good launch and joined Allen in the air; by this time, it had turned magic. So Charley, Mark, and I enjoyed the sky scene from the newer ramp, watching a raven perform awesome aerobatics, and watching Anthony and Allen frolic in the magic conditions. A fitting end to a good day. Bacil https://ayvri.com/scene/z15y60z0jx/ckeh ... 699xpki58v

[wmelo]

It was great to see this flock of HG pilots flying.
I am looking forward to being back on the air.

[Ward Odenwald]

Very good day! Here are some photos to add to Bacil’s write up. The first image shows our flight line: (L->R; left wingtips) Anthony’s S2, Charley’s Gecko, Allen’s S2, Mark’s T2, Tom’s Litespeed (who’s most likely feverishly stuffing battens) and Bacil’s S2 (on his pickup). I flew for 57 min (had to get home early) and landed on the golf course driving range. Thirty-two min into the flight, I had my only significant climb that took me to just over 5,260 ft MSL. Images 2 through 8 were taken while climbing in this thermal. The last two pics are of the golf course and the beginning of my final approach into its driving range.

https://ayvri.com/scene/e9k4dd34ko/ckeh ... 5rdll008xc

Ward

[Ward Odenwald]

Last set of five images.

[markc]

cloudbase, which by this time was 7200' MSL

Well... I wish that had been the case for my flight, but my two trips to near-cloudbase only got me to 5880 MSL. Tom McG mentioned that he broke 6K MSL, but I'm not sure by how much.

The streets were incredible! But between the number of fields still in corn and work issues on Monday, I elected to stay local rather then venturing OTB. Must be getting old I guess

Here's a framegrab from my first trip to (near) the white room:

Looking south, from behind the main ridge.

[markc]

Here's a better shot with less spherical aberration, in about the same direction:

Interesting: With my ancient Hero2 GoPro, it seems like the aberration is much more significant if the cam is tilted just a bit downward/upward. Nothing else going on between these two frame-grabs, as far as I can remember....

Forgot to mention: I found conditions to be very strong & rough on Sunday. It was sure nice to be high for a change, trying to remember what those nearly-forgotten tones from the vario meant! But two days out, I'm *still* really sore/soar after just a 1.5hr flight. Like, motrin/tylenol-sore. Sheesh.