Did anyone fly late Saturday @ Woodstock?

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 6:33 pm

Holly and I arrived at Woodstock just before 2pm Saturday to find it blowing like mad and a big crowd of pilots hang waiting at launch. Bacil Dickert, John Dullahan, Randy Webber, Hank Hengst, and Bruce Engen all got into the air early with mixed results---but the general consensus was "You don't want to be up there now!"

During two hours of hanging out, nobody launched as several 25-30mph cycles came roaring through, separated by "lulls" of a mere 10-15. Finally, I decided to cut my losses for the day and left around 4 or 4:30. So what I'm really wondering is...did anyone launch after I left???

I whipped out the Kestrel in the Burger King parking lot on the way home and measured an average of 6mph with a gust of 17mph---and that was in Burger King's wind shadow---so that made me feel a bit better about my decision to leave.

It was great, though, hanging out and seeing everyone---even when nobody flies, it's a good crowd of people to hang wait with!

Scott

Post by **Matthew** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 11:21 pm

Yep. Me, Gary S., and Tad flew at the end of the day. Both Gary and I launched in really smooth, sweet cycles around 5:30pm. Tad launched in a bit stronger stuff. Winds aloft were strong. But I had no problems penetrating with full VG on.... mostly. Got parked twice for a few seconds. There were a couple of sink holes. But for the most part the air wasn't too turb... at most a 3-4 on a scale of 1-10. Pretty gentle for Woodstock actually. I got 2 k over and and an hour. The last twenty minutes of the flight were baby-butt smooth with lift extending out past the river. Beautiful start to sunset in the valley as the moon rose over the mountains. Tad and I planned to land to the South near the private air strip that Dan and Bacil like. But I coulen't find it and we returned and landed in the main LZ with Gary. My worries for a rough landing were for naught. It was dead calm in the LZ.

Matthew

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 7:58 am

Alright! I'm glad someone else got to fly! So...today's 'cast calls for even more insane winds...but I wonder if it would be worth heading back to Woodstock around 4pm?

Scott

Post by **rs54263** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 7:39 pm

Yep; got pictures to prove it...

http://photos.sickinger.net/20051015_wo ... index.html

~Ralph

Post by **brianvh** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:10 am

Scott...if you want airtime, always wait until the end of the day. Just plan on doing it up front and you'll save yourself alot of frustration.

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 12:02 pm

brianvh wrote:Scott...if you want airtime, always wait until the end of the day. Just plan on doing it up front and you'll save yourself alot of frustration.

Excellent point Brian!

I agree, especially on days when it's blowing 20+! I'll plan on that the next time.

Scott

Post by **mcelrah** » Mon Oct 17, 2005 8:31 pm

So, you are back from Germany, Brian? Report! (maybe on the "OT" forum) - Hugh

>From: brianvh <brianvh@umd5.umd.edu>
>Date: Mon Oct 17 10:10:01 CDT 2005
>To: hg_forum@chgpa.org
>Subject: Did anyone fly late Saturday @ Woodstock?

>
>Scott...if you want airtime, always wait until the end of the day. Just plan on doing it up front and you'll save yourself alot of frustration.Brian Vant-Hull
>301-646-1149