Woodstock Tues May 17th?

[markc]

Although it's still three days out, the forecast on Tuesday at WStock is starting to look interesting.... I would have to burn a vacation day, but given how dismal the weekends have been lately it might be worth the gamble. Anyone else considering?

[XCanytime]

As you know, I'm in. ETA 2Pish. Looks like Rich is in. Jon Brantley is off from work and most likely in. Gary Smith has volunteered to show up by 3Pish to assist at launch. Homer is thinking about it. Bacil

[XCanytime]

Today there are tornado watches/warnings for the local area. The next day is ALWAYS stellar soaring conditions. Who remembers flying at Woodstock June 1st, 1998? Bacil

[markc]

Looks like a later-rather-than-earlier kind of forecast, so I'll make my call around noon tomorrow. ETA 2-ish if things look reasonable.

[markc]

What the heck? NWS surface text 'cast for tomorrow, as of 8:15pm Monday:

"Sunny, with a high near 77. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 23 mph."

Sure hope that's wrong!

[XCanytime]

NWS. One of the most inaccurate sources of forecasts I have found over the 30+ years I have been logging weather data. Give it wide berth. A great evening flight awaits those who show up. HGers first. Then after 7P, the PGers get their place in the sun, soaring until sunset (8:21P). Bacil

[RichH]

Im seeing W most of the day and fairly strong until late afternoon around 4-5pm when the velocity starts to taper off and the direction starts to swing towards a more NW direction of 300-310. Everything right now is pointing towards one of those classic evening glass offs. Im planning to arrive between 2-3pm..as long as this forecast holds.. will double check in the morning.. Rich

[RichH]

Checked this Tuesday morning forecast still holding with winds starting to clock around to the WNW around 3pm and tapering off in velocity..Looking like a nice late afternoon or early evening flight will be possible. Im still thinking of arriving between 2-3pm and hopefully launching between 4-5pm..Sunset isn't until after 8pm so still plenty of time to get hopefully at least a 3 hour flight in.. Hope we can get some other pilots showing up..

[markc]

Count me in for an afternoon arrival. Probably more like 3:00, given that the more solid NW direction has been pushed back a bit.

[XCanytime]

X

[markc]

Hi Bacil! Could you please have a look in the back of your truck to see if my phone might be on the seat/floor, or possibly in the cup holder on the door?

[XCanytime]

https://ayvri.com/scene/z15y60z0jx/cl3b ... 6qsbozt2t2

[XCanytime]

Hi Bacil! Could you please have a look in the back of your truck to see if my phone might be on the seat/floor, or possibly in the cup holder on the door?

Found it Mark. Hallelujah! Let me know what you want to do. Bacil

[markc]

Oh, you are the man!! Phew! I spent about an hour in the LZ and up top, on the off-chance that it
slipped out of my pocket on the way to or from your vehicle.

Could you give me a call at my work number sometime after 9:00 or so tomorrow? 301-435-5973 .
I'll come over and pick it up wherever's convenient for you!

PS: I think the alarm is set fo 6:30am

[markc]

Brief description of the day: Bacil, John McA, and I all flew. Rich H pulled the plug at about 5pm because of the W cross. Randy W swung by in the hopes of a late PG flight (he was working nearby anyway), but he decided it was too strong. And Gary S came out just to help with launches, which was a huge help. Thanks Gary! And Randy!

I can't remember the last time that I've had simple, straight-in, non-washing-machine conditions on launch at Woodstock. Is it just me, or do we always seem to be dealing with a nasty W cross over the past year or so?

And I wasn't happy today: Trees heeling *way* over to the right at the bottom of the slot, gust factor much stronger than forecast between 2pm and 5pm, and all the hourly airport readings solid W. Almost elected not to fly.

But the cycle length started to increase a bit after 5pm, enough to look at things and say "Ok, decent conditions for a launch". Bacil was first, maybe 5:45? I completed my slow-roll glider set up as some even nicer stuff (well, relatively speaking, still cross) rolled through. Of course, conditions ramped up as I was moving to launch. *Almost* bailed..... But I took an ok cycle at around 6:30, decent launch, major elevator up, and got smacked around a couple of times exiting the slot.

And afterwards? It wasn't bad! I was afraid that the fun-factor would be way low : A strong, turbulent cross day.

But actually, it was just a stiff headwind, and conditions improved a bit with some altitude. Granted, a couple of periods with full-VG early, but later it actually became a fun flight. I topped out at 4900MSL, and I think Bacil got about the same. John smoked us both with 5400MSL.

My landing, however, left a lot to be desired. It was 8pm, and I couldn't tell if the streamers were showing zero-wind, or a bit catabatic. It was the latter. Plus, I turned onto final a bit high. So there I was, eating up the field and approaching the fence, still zooming along... Knew I had to do something so I pumped a flare as hard as I could, and slowed the glider enough for a hard plop-down. Coulda/shoulda just done a reverse approach I guess. OTOH, if *that* had been the wrong choice, then you could end up approaching the road and the power lines rather than the fence. Things did work out, but the mistake was turning too high on final, for a landing with no head-wind to help reduce my glide. Must do better next time!

MarkC

[XCanytime]

Just an addendum to yesterday. The day before (Monday) Krzyzstof Grzyb flew 276 miles from a tow in Illinois to a landing SSW of Columbus OH. That airmass was the same airmass (tail end) that we flew in yesterday. It was definitely a 100 mile XC day. Bacil

[markc]

WOW!!!!!

I wonder what our WS day would have been like if the direction had been better, earlier...