Woodstock tomorrow (Tues.)

[garys]

Looks like a nice Woodstock day tomorrow. Any interest?

[andybalkphysics]

Hey Gary,

I have a H4 friend who is in the DC area for the week, he asked if anyone was flying so he could go along and have a look at the sites. He doesn't have any gear with him but would probably be happy to go have a look tomorrow if anyone was flying. I was telling him enthusiastically about Woodstock.

-Andy

[garys]

Andy; It would be my pleasure to show your friend around at Woodstock. Feel free to pass along my cell phone to him; 540-686-0351?

[andybalkphysics]

I did, thanks! Hope you get it tomorrow...looks lovely over there.

[markc]

If only today had been yesterday, sigh! Hope all who can go have great flights!

[Ward Odenwald]

The fall colors were brilliant even at cloud base! I'll post details and pics tomorrow.

Ward

https://ayvri.com/scene/e9k4dd34ko/ckg8 ... 5rrah9cyqi

[Ward Odenwald]

Gary Smith and I were ready to fly by 12:45 and Mother Nature flipped the soaring switch just after 1. I was in the air by 1:19 and Gary followed ~10 minutes later. Our plan was to head north and see what kind of trouble we could get ourselves into – we had a blast!

During our flight up to Strasburg, we could see multiple streets forming with some extending across the valley, over both forks of the Shenandoah River and into the Blue Ridge Mtns. The lift above the primary ridge was consistent enough to stay at least 500 ft above the ridge line and, to add a couple of feet, we paused for a couple of turns in thermals as we flew north.

Attached are 10 images from the day with the first (just after takeoff) showing the ridge looking north and the last highlighting John McAllister’s field with Gary’s glider parked at its southeast end. Once on the ground, Gray radioed to give me real time wind gust conditions which prepared me for the textured air during my entry into the LZ.

The other ordered images are all about the remarkable thermals that we found just south of Massanutten’s north end! One of the cloud lines that interested the main ridge crossed over it just south of the Strasburg reservoir (~7.5 miles from launch) and under this cloud street I had 5 or 6 climbs that eventually took me to cloud base. Concerned about drifting too far behind the main ridge, I left the first 3 thermals as I reached the downwind parallel ridge but the last two thermals were strong kickass, no nonsense boomers so I hung in there all the way to the white room entrance. We weren't the only flyers enjoying this street (image #5). As an indication of just how consistent the lift was under this line of clouds, I spent the better part of 43 minutes going from one thermal to the next and they were all located/passing over the ridge within a quarter of a mile of each other.

The fall colors at the north end were spectacular!

Ward

[Ward Odenwald]

Last set of five images.

[krryerson]

Thanks for the write up and pictures!
Classic Woodstock this time!
Knut