Whoa, another amazing spring day! I figured it might be one of those borderline Kinda-Fun/Kinda-Not flights, if we got into the air at all.... And it was definitely DNF territory for much of the late-AM/early-PM. I'd kind of written the day off, to be honest. Gusting 30 at one point, according to the Holfuy.
But... These lulls starting rolling in, way better than what we'd been seeing. I had paused my setup at the 1/2-way point: All bags packed, vario and GoPro and harness ready, glider tensioned but just a few battens stuffed. And then those lulls/launch-cycles REALLY started looking good. So I cut off conversation with wuffos and started hustling!
Ward liked what he saw so we got him into the slot and he had very good launch. I finished my setup, left my keys on the vehicle, watched conditions a bit, and then gave it a try. Many thanks to Gary and Bacil and Allan for their help on wirecrew, wouldn't have been possible without you, thanks guys!
I wasn't super-happy with my launch run... But after a debrief with Bacil, it apparently wasn't awful. I just don't like it when I'm off the ground without a hard-charging, multi-step run. Today was not that. Exited the slot, turbulent, elevator-up, b-slapped two or three times, and I knew immediately that it was going to be one of those days.
Some highlights: Flying with an immature bald eagle; watching sailplanes cruise below near the resevoir; reaching 7130 MSL not long after that; multiple climbs to 6k+; finding a street south of launch (near those big chicken coops/barns) which I used to punch past I-81 at 6200 MSL; thermalling in the valley...
Sounds great, eh? But the downside was that the winds and the thermals were STRONG! Run-away strong at times. Like, "No way am I going to land in this sh@t" strong. I stretched my flight out by an hour, hoping that conditions would start to mellow a bit. Just surfing along, trying to relax the hands and shoulders, VG off, sucking in the bar when the strong stuff blew through. Cruising a finger or two north and south of launch. Eventually things seemed to have backed off a bit, and I slowly crept out to the bridge field. Got lucky, there was a sinky period, and landed in conditions that were relatively good. But wow! That downwind leg? Screamin'!
Shortly after, winds started gusting in the LZ, enough to make the break-down a handful. And up top,things apparently continued to build. Gary left due to an engagement, and Allan and Rich threw in the towel. It's possible that conditions
might have gotten a bit better just before sunset.... But that's based solely on the winds in the LZ, could easily have still been cranking up top.
Glad I flew: The fun-o-meter was in the black at least a few times, and I was happy with the landing. But a very challenging flight.
. Bacil