NW weekend 3/6 - 3/7

[XCanytime]

Extended forecast is looking good. Saturday Woodstock/Smithsburg/Pulpit? and Sunday Smithsburg/Pulpit are the usual suspects. Hopefully the fledgelings will have a banner training hill weekend and the vets will get some needed hours of airtime at the mountains. Bacil

[1otIII2007]

Count me in for either the Pulpit or Woodstock, whichever looks the best.

Allan B.

[krryerson]

Next weekend looking good, but can’t make it for the weekend, working; but, Thursday and Friday might work and will consider WS flying at one of does days.
I am off Thu-Fri. Not to take anything away from the weekend flyers, any week flyers interested?
Knut

[wmelo]

Thu/Fri at WS looks good, but a little bit too cold for a Brazilian guy
However, I amy consider going to WS this Friday since it will be sunny... I can confirm Fri 10AM.
Let us sync with other slackers

Sunday at WS may be good as well (too early to call).

I would bring the attention to the Pulpit tomorrow (Wed): W 10MPH, 50F!
anyone available tomorrow to go to the Pulpit?

[XCanytime]

It looks cold for 4 days straight (Thursday thru Sunday). Max temp is Sunday (48° F) but Friday/Saturday will be 5 - 6° F colder, with Thursday ~ 47° F. If it's too cold for you at the mountain, then join Anthony at the Smithsburg training hill either Saturday or Sunday. I will be at Smithsburg Saturday, and at the Pulpit or the SAC Sunday. Bacil

[krryerson]

Was hoping to get to fly this week, but something came up and can’t make it.
Knut

[markc]

Got my eye on Woodstock Saturday at this point. But who knows... Eagerly waiting for tomorrow's updates!

[1otIII2007]

How is Woodstock looking for Saturday? Is anyone interested in going?

Allan B.

[XCanytime]

Looks great for flying during the warmest part of the day 3P to 5P. At least freeze your ass off to a minimum . Bacil

[Ward Odenwald]

Woodstock, tomorrow (Saturday): ETA at launch 10 AM.

Ward

[Ward Odenwald]

Still looks good but ETA at launch is now 11:30 - noon.

[1otIII2007]

My ETA is: 12:30. Could you bring your U2 Walt?

Allan B.

[markc]

I'll swing by WStock and have a look, ETA noon-ish. High of 44 down in the valley at 4pm, *just* enough to tempt me out there....

[markc]

Looks like 50/50 odds at WStock given current winds at launch. If the PM throttle-down doesn't happen, I'll probably give Smithsburg a go tomorrow.

[mcgowantk]

I am looking at tomorrow.

Tom McGowan

[markc]

Wow, the gamble paid off! Sure didn't seem promising for a while there.... Ward, Allan, and myself. Beautiful day, but cold at altitude. More details later....

[markc]

Leaning toward a second winter-time practice day at Smithsburg tomorrow, based on the forecasts that I'm seeing this evening. Anthony, are you/others planning to be there?

Or... Hmmmm.... Light winds on the NWS 3K forecast:

https://www.aviationweather.gov/windtemp/plot

Maybe the Pulpit is the place to be? Or High Rock?

[A.Lloyd]

I'll be at Smithsburg tomorrow from 9AM to 5PM.

[XCanytime]

Pulpit during the warmest part of the day looks great. I'm game. Any others? Bacil

[LikeToFly]

Good morning,
I'm getting around to go to the Pulpit. Who all are going?
Thx,
Aron

[markc]

I'll be going to Smithsburg today : Trying to stick to my 2-practice-days/winter goal.

[markc]

Well.... So much for NW@7-10. Smithsburg was gusty and gnarly for most of the day on Sunday. Pilots flying included Tim, Rocko (new H2?), and myself. But also on-hand were Anthony, Mike, Glen Hardy(!), and Eddie Miller(!). Pics were not an option today, and I didn't catch up with Eddie and Glen as much as I would have liked.... Just one of those days.

In fact, I even allowed my glider to get flipped during setup. Still untensioned, thought I would have time to grab the harness/etc from the vehicle.... Wrong! *Just* missed Rocko's glider, phew! Embarrassing.

Up top there was a lot of cross N, but things would swing in periodically. 15-20 quite common, with gusts to 25+. What the heck?!

Was first up top. Hooked in after watching for 20-30 mins, and seeing a lighter left-cross cycle. I promptly got pinned in launch position, frickin winds howling, nose down within two feet of the ground. The winds finally backed off enough to retreat and spin the glider. Yikes! Sweating and out of breath... "Did that count as a flight?"

Not what I had hoped for, for a practice day. Sigh. I did manage three flights, but you really had to be ready to jump when there were hints of a good cycle down below.

Rocko had some flights at the end of the day, but even then, and down low on the hill, it wasn't easy at all.

Oh... And did I mention the manure that had been spread at the bottom of the hill, probably 3-4 days ago? Ah, the glamour of the hang gliding lifestyle

[markc]

Better late than never, here's a report about Woodstock on Saturday:

Conditions were pretty strong at about noon when I stopped by the LZ. Flags/socks in the valley had been showing lots of wind. Flags with noticeable NW during the drive down Route 11 (Toms Brook/Mauertown/Woodstock). About what one might expect given the forecast. But OTOH, little sign of the "Woodstock Effect". Hmmm.... Maybe that's not much of a "thing" anymore?

Ward and Allan ran a shuttle just as I pulled in up top. I did not join-in, given my concerns about the gust factor. Figured it might be a long wait, wanted a warm refuge, etc.

That choice was probably a good one. I killed some time folderizing pics on my phone. Had a snack. Did a quick hike/jog to the old launch, and then scrambled around some outcrops at the crest of the finger north of launch (near as I could tell). Glider and gear at launch of course, and partially set-up. But the slowly increasing gust factor at Winchester (24/26/29) hadn't been super encouraging.

Ward texted me that launch windows were happening as I was heading back from the hike. And indeed, there were some halfway decent cycles! So Allan and I helped out and Ward was in the air at (guessing here) about 2:30. Then... Yet another ramp-up. Allan was bummed, so was I.

But this time the trains weren't as quite as strong, and the windows seemed to be getting longer. So Allan gave it a go around 3:30. I then hustled to complete my set-up (did I mention that I was a bit pessimistic about the day?), waited through another ramp-up, and then launched sometime around 4:15.

Course, my vario's batteries died minutes into the flight. Uber-sigh. But at least I was above at that point.

I think Ward topped out at around 5300MSL, and Allan at around 4500? Both ran most/all of the ridge, from the knob to the gap. I stayed pretty local, managing maybe 2k over (rough guess). Ward had some wireslaps, but Allan and I did not : Things were definitely mellowing out a bit by the late afternoon.

I'll post a few frame-grabs from my flight in a bit....

Cold day. Definitely a gamble. But it paid off!

[markc]

Topped out, looking north toward Signal Knob

Bald eagle flying by...

Sunset light and the waterfall

[markc]

Heading downwind.

About to turn base.

On final.