Pulpit - better late than never

Post by **SheilaGardner** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 11:28 pm

I'm sending this for Mark regarding his flight last Sunday at the Pulpit . . .?

Guilty as charged!
?
Yup, I?m one of them. One of the lazy ones. Especially when it comes to reporting?.
I?m? really not a total a**hole, but? I hate to write, and I forget most things 10 minutes after they happen.
?
The worst part is that there are few things I enjoy more than reading a well written flight report. And I love hearing the hang lies around the campfire late into the night.
?
So here?s mine
?
Before I get to the details, I have to give props to the boys??
?
First in line is my good bud Mark Cavanaugh.
That poor bastard was where I usually am?.just a couple hundred feet below the bottom of a thermal somebody else is getting up in. Fortunately for me, I was the one a couple hundred feet above this time. And as I?m usually cussin? that SOB as I look up from below,( and praying for him to go to some sinking area so that I might briefly get above him, )? I was truly hoping he would get a piece of my thermal on Sunday and go with me. Oh well?.
?
Next in line is my hero, Bacil Dickert. I am so happy that that f*&#$r sank out!!? His flight of 22+ miles on Saturday (done varioless) is plenty good enough! I certainly didn?t need him spankin? me without no stinking vario!??I have, in the past ,flown without one and have to admit that it is extremely rewarding just to get up at all, but going OTB naked and far is truly amazing.

And then there?s my personal favorite , Dog Pit Dan ( as we Mountaineeers affectionately call him) He pretty much had it all wrapped up until I stumbled into a good flight. Like me, he fully relies on technology to aid him in going far, and it would have been a hoot to go over with him.
And lastly there?s my good buddy Rick Holtz. Every year we re-establish our old team as best we can and 9 times out of ten I just land in the LZ. But Rick ALWAYS goes for it!? Year after year, He always does SOMETHING. Even if it?s a sled, he?ll stretch it and land at the golf course. And again this year, he stretched it 7 miles to the end of the valley. Gotta love that?.
OK, enough about those ground pounders??. Here?s what happened.
It was Sunday and I had to fly early and get the girls home at a decent time?It would have to be a quick sled and then home.
I saw that Cavanaugh was on launch and figured I could pimp off him if anything ?.
By the time I got launched, we could see him up, and I went down the ridge to join him. Of course it immediately got sketchy. After floating around for 2-3 minutes, I figured I?d get closer to the LZ and luckily there was just a tiny bit of lift down there where Mark had been 5 minutes previously. It was barely 50 up but Mark and Bacil were low and coming back over to avoid sinking out. I would have gone back up the ridge the first time I lost it, but I saw that they had come from sink and figured I had better stay in the area. It was crap, but I saw that the boys were sinking out and just kept working. It finally got better and I started climbing slowly
?@ 100-200 fpm. It was really snakey but I finally drifted into THE ZONE where you gotta decide to stick with it or come back?I was only about 900 over, but figured I would sink out if I bailed, so I stuck and milked it to about 1700 over. It turned to sink just barely over the secondary ridge, so I got small and pointy and headed into the valley.
The sink weren?t so bad, and after only 2-3 minutes of glide I hit a good one? under the cloud I had aimed at.
It suddenly got easy?200-300-400 up. I took that one to 5K msl, and milked it?.
Now, I know you?re supposed to go downwind and all, but I didn?t think there was that? much drift. And the closest cloud was north over Thomas. I was also thinking about the extended P40 and since I?m a moron, I thought I better go as far around it as I could cause I usually have no idea where I really am. But I did know Thomas,( having landed thereabouts many times).
So I aimed, and after a while got there at @3K msl.
Same thing?. EZ 300-400-500 fmp. An immature bald helped me center up initially and then of course climbed through me. Base was 5500 msl.
I kept jumping North. Mostly because the best / closest clouds were up there, but also because of P40 fears.? It was probably 2-3 more times to base before I went for a good cloud that was a bit far.? I had never gotten much lower than 2500msl but this time would be different?I knew I would get across I80, but I kept going down and the cloud seemed farther and farther.

When I got there I couldn?t find anything and after searching and? drifting helplessly, I started lookin at a beautiful big field a mile or so across I80.
At @500 over, I had a lowish save , from a buzzard no less. (We all know what liars they are)
But I got up again and was drifting into the Micheaux?Again approaching THE ZONE.
Worse than that, I had never been this far north before?I knew that I was north of Chambersburg and that?s about it. The haze was pretty thick too and I really couldn?t see into the forest to gauge a possible LZ.
I didn?t get to base but at 5K msl I looked back once more and decided that the fields I could sort of see across the forest were about as far as the ones behind me, so I milked it until I had to point and didn?t stop sweating for 3-4 miles.
As it turned out I made it with plenty, and although the first fields were actually orchards of death, I found gentle sink and a nice uphill field 100 yards from Gardner Station rd (no bull)
This fine flight ended with an unusual excellent landing ( 5th in a row!)??After many years I think I finally have learned how to land a hang glider after reading some advice written by Kevin Carter.
As per usual,? I had no radio and my GPS batteries were dead. But after using a home made measuring device and a well worn Delorme I have decided to stretch my pin to 40 miles.??Just south of Idaville PA.
My wonderful wife answered the cell and all my girls came to get Daddy and pick apples.?
Thanks to all the fine folks who continue to work hard to provide us with great fly-ins like this one!
Your bud,
??????????? ??????????? gardner
?
?

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 8:09 am

Awesome trip report Mark! Funny and fascinating, and motivates the heck out of me!

Carlos, with respect for your accomplishment, I'm not about to wait 9 years for my first XC from Pulpit!

Scott

Post by **carweill** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:36 am

Great Job Mark
Now that is a flight. Bridgette was very excited to go
pick up her dad.

Scott or anyone, do not wait 9 years. XC when you are
ready, many do it before one year of flying. My case was a choice and reasons for some other time.

Carlos

Post by **SheilaGardner** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:51 am

I would like to add my congratulations to the awesome flights that
everyone had - especially Karen (first pg'ing flight from Pulpit),
Carlos (first XC AND over the back) and Dan (on his 28 mile flight) -
CONGRATULATIONS!! I'm sure I"m missing some of the other big flights
- it was just great to see everyone flying and having a great time.

I also want to thank the "village" that helped me with the girls last
weekend at the Pulpit - and also helping me put up the Taj Mahal! I
can't tell you all how much I appreciate all the help. Weekends like
this reinforce how lucky I am to be part of such a great group. It
was absolutely wonderful seeing everyone and hope to do it again soon!

Awesome fly-in Daniel!

Sheila

On Sep 24, 2005, at 9:36 AM, carweill wrote:

>
> Great Job Mark
> Now that is a flight. Bridgette was very
> excited to go
> pick up her dad.
>
> Scott or anyone, do not wait 9 years. XC when
> you are
> ready, many do it before one year of flying. My case was a choice
> and reasons for some other time.
>
> Carlos
>
>