Woodstock Sunday October 31st

[XCanytime]

Looking good for Woodstock on Halloween Sunday. Should be close to peak colors to boot . Who can fly? Bacil

[RichH]

Im keeping a close eye on it current forecast is looking good but we are still 5 days out.. Will take another look on Friday but Im planning on going if it stays as forecasted! Rich

[1otIII2007]

I am in if the forecast still looks good.

Allan B.

[markc]

Fingers are crossed!

[XCanytime]

Right now the hourly fcst is indicating WNW winds starting at noon. Looking to launch then if it holds. Bacil

[markc]

Now looks like the WNW window will be from 1pm to 4pm, at least on the NWS hourly sfc chart. I think it'll be worth a drive out there, ETA of about 11:30 or so.

[XCanytime]

Arrived at launch around 9:45A but not before a visit to KFRR, where I ran into old time hang glider/paraglider pilot (now powered pilot) Hugh McElrath. Hugh was allocated to serve as tug pilot for the sailplane club operating out of KFRR. We had a nice chat, and I headed to launch, as Hugh was on the clock so to speak. At launch conditions were light, and fog in the valley was flowing SW. I set up the glider and waited. By 11:30A, it had turned on, and flow was coming up the slot. Mark Cavanaugh was the 1st pilot to show up, around 11:40A, followed by Rich Hiegel, Allan Bawell, Will Hynla, Homer, and Alex Kilimnik. By this time, just before 1P, the sky had decked over, and there were launchable lulls. I pounced on a very light cycle, had a good run, but the glider hit a gradient at the end of the lip, and it went into terrain follow mode. I let it build up airspeed, until way deep in the slot, and then gently pushed out to clear the one tree rising up above all the rest. Will not launch in such a light cycle ever again at Woodstock. Turned left into the expected cross. Got up above the ridge easily, but tough going to Waonaze Peak. Once again it took about 3 tries before I was able to climb above the peak (2700' MSL). After hanging out and climbing up to 3100' MSL, I decided to make a run for KFRR again. Flew past launch and nobody was launching. Made it up to the reservoir and did some half hearted turns in lift, but just wasn't super motivated to make a go for the airport. So I decided to just make it to the bridge field and land. Well the 7 miles from the reservoir to the launch slot were the 7 miles from HELL! I had the bar stuffed nearly the whole way, and it was the most turbulent air I have ever flown in in 28 years of mountain flying. Sustained turbulence for 7 miles! Like flying thru boiling water. Strong shots of lift, too many uncommanded turns to count. Once back at launch, I saw Homer was in launch position. I gave a thumbs down to anybody who could possibly see it (I was just a few hundred over launch) and resolved to get upwind of the bridge field before making the run out to land. Got upwind, flew out, and hit major sink. So I had a decision point. Do I continue for the bridge field, or do I turn NE and fly over the finger, not high above it, and get trashed landing in the Idaho flood plain or the old main LZ? Luckily I hit some lift that enabled me to commit to the bridge field. Didn't have enough altitude to do a pattern, so I flew along the road parallel to the field a little, turned back 120 degrees towards the huge sycamore tree at the approach end, and dove into the field from ~ 75' above the tree. Had a nice landing in breezy west cross conditions in the field. Homer joined me after a not so fun flight either, but not to the extreme that I experienced from the reservoir to the launch slot. Mark graciously came down and gave me and Homer a body ride back to launch. Mark and I assisted Allan into the air just after 4P. Will had launched earlier. Mark broke down. Rich and Alex left after a while. Walt Melo came and went. I followed Mark down to the LZ; he was retrieving his streamers (thanks!), I my equipment. My GPS said the max winds were W at 27.7 MPH, and my max groundspeed was 61.6 MPH to the ESE. Not a fun flight. Bacil

GPS died up by the reservoir. Don't know why the tracklog is offset vertically by a couple hundred feet, even though the stats panel is displaying the correct altitude(s). Weird.
https://ayvri.com/scene/z15y60z0jx/ckvg ... 6iqjljw4rr

[Danny Brotto]

The sailplane flying at Fairfield yesterday was described as very turbulent and trashy. I watched a tow plane launching a glider get rocked at 50 ft AGL and settle down to almost touch the ground. After a couple of flights, ops were suspended due to unpleasant and useless conditions.

The reports from Front Royal were likewise reported as being trashy.

Hugh McElrath: "It was beautiful! BUT - I banged my headphone on the window during an uncommanded snap roll during one of the rodeo tows… (‘TsOK - headset acted like a helmet…)"

Piet Barber: "I got bounced around quite a bit on tow too. Hit my head on the canopy twice. I have lots of headroom in my glider, so this is an achievement."

I didn't fly yesterday as I had a Halloween commitment. Today was pretty good though.

Danny Brotto

[1otIII2007]

Launching after 4:00 PM the air was much better. Will and I boated around for over an hour with only moderate turbulence. I was staying around 700'-1400' over in mostly ridge lift. It was crossed from the left so going SW was slow but still we were able to make good progress.
Monday I launched around 1:00 PM much better day. It was not as crossed and lighter wind and much better thermal activity. Near the end of the flight I got up to 5800' MSL. I only hit moderate turbulence at times and over 1400' over launch it was only mild turbulence. Over 3 hours airtime in two days. Will had a very good experience for his first time flying Woodstock.

Allan B.

[1otIII2007]

Here is my ayvri track: https://ayvri.com/scene/0jgrreyeko/ckvh ... 69uu6knacb