Pulpit was working 12/3

Post by **XCanytime** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 6:19 pm

Arrived at the Pulpit at 9A.? Conditions were suprisingly light on the ramps.? Some cross cycles from the SW mixed in w/ straight in cycles.? Wispy cumies were moving overhead at a good clip from the WNW.? That was a good sign at least.? Set up and waited for Shawn Ray to arrive.? Sparky showed up before Shawn did.? Since I had to leave by 12:30P, I took off at 10A into 8 to 12 MPH winds.? Bounced around between 200' to 400' over for a good while in a distinct SW cross on the ridge before finding a halfway decent thermal that I could circle in.? It quit however at about 700' over.? Returned to the frustrating 200' to 400' over.? About a half hour into my flight Shawn joined me, and we shared the punchy lift on the ridge.? Shawn ended up landing after 30+ minutes.? I left the still-soarable ridge to land with Shawn.? Danny Brotto graciously picked us up.? Thanks Danny.? Back at launch Mark Cavanaugh, Kelvin Pierce, and Daniel Broxterman were setting up.? Conditions at launch were much better and a bit stronger.? Pretty straight in at 12 to 18 MPH.? Couldn't be much better than that.? Mark took off and got up easily in what seemed to be butter-smooth air.? Kelvin followed and did the same.? When Kelvin launched Mark was seen at 1K'+ over.? It will be interesting to see whether the winds switched at all to the SW.? Looking forward to reports from the Pulpit faithful 3.

??????????????????????????????????????????????????? Bacil

P.S.? The Pulpit often works even if the winds in the Hagerstown valley are SW.? Especially if the winds aloft show a distinct 270 to 290 direction.? Seen it a few times before.

?

Spark · Post by **Spark** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 7:00 pm

When I arrived at about 3pm, winds were still 12-18, but quickly baked down to the 10-12 range. I launched PG after Marcel and James and maintained just at and below ridge height for about 20 minutes. Laszlo launched last, but was able to outlast me.

We went back up for a second PG flight and got an evening sled rides just before sunset. It was not as easy to make the LZ this time - we had a SW cross

Thanks to Rich Bloomfield for driving retrieve.

mikel · Post by **mikel** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 7:30 pm

Good evening to all the pulpiteers........
nice to meet all you guys, hope to
have a little more time to chat....
maybe, next time.....

later M[/b]

Marcel Dettling · Post by **Marcel Dettling** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:33 pm

Spark's post very accurately describes the PG flying at the Pulpit today. I hadn't thought about flying today and was already on my way to DC to play some disk golf with Tom. Then I got a call reporting good conditions at the Pulpit. Of course I was tempted, so I turned around and got my glider.

I arrived at around 1:30pm. Yes, it looked great. Blue sky, even some cummies in the north. The wind was straight in, but - too strong. The windspeed meter said between 12 and 20mph. There were cycles where I could have launched my PG, but I was worried about penetration. So I decided to wait. After a while James, Laszlo and finally Spark arrived. A dense, high cloud cover started to move in from the South, giving hope that the wind would back off a bit.

Indeed, at around 3pm I measured not more than 17mph for a few minutes - time to launch. Indeed, I had good penetration and immediately got up. There was pretty good ridge lift with patches, where I could climb a bit faster. The wind still felt like straight in. I got up to 500ft above launch, boated around and watched the others launch - I saw some intersting scenes today

After a while it got weaker and weaker, the first ones of us had to head for the LZ. I could profit from the altitude that I had built earlier and in survival mode was able to stay up for short while longer. My flight lasted just short of one hour, I was very happy with it of course. Although I asked myself, whether I could have pushed the envelope a bit further and launched earlier than I did.

Whereas the others headed up again, I decided not to fly anymore. I was happy to see that Daniel Broxterman successfully pulled his second mountain flight (I'm sure he's soon gonna soar with us). It looked like the winds switched quickly to a strong south cross and indeed, every of the pilots had more problems in reaching the LZ than the one before. Well, not too much to worry about - everyone made it safely over the trees.

Cheers,

Marcel

PS: Many thanks to Rich Bloomfield for the ride back to launch!

Post by **hang_pilot** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 12:08 am

Just walked in the door from celebrating USC's (my alma mater) 34th consecutive football victory; that 66-19 win over UCLA earned them a spot in the national championship. If there are any Texas fans out there, speak now so we can begin posteuring.

A few more McConnellsburg memories...
Mark, Kelvin and I made it an all-U2 show in the 2nd act today at Pulpit. In a surprise hit performance, the thermals showed up and rocked the party. I didn't check the vario but max was about 2200 over.

We flew for 1 - 1:20 until the freeze meter started gaining too much on the fun factor. Kelvin didn't have bar mitts and hung tuff that long w. just those flytec fleece numbers to keep his dukes warm. I hope the feeling has finally returned in your finger tips.

Ashely also joined in the fun, getting his Litesport put back together from the move in time to join the paragliders for an hg sled in Act 3. Congratulations on your first east coast adventure!

It was nice to get rewarded for braving the cold. My thanks also to Danny and Rich for driving.

~Daniel
301.275.6584

Post by **markc** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 12:10 am

Yup, not bad for Dec 3 and a friggin' cold day!

I got about 1:20 of airtime, and topped out at around
1950' above launch. Surprisingly good thermals, with
500 fpm on the averager at times, and lots of 400.
Landed only because I couldn't feel my fingers anymore
(man did they hurt when the circulation returned, yikes!)

Slight north cross when I launched (12:30 or so?), and
winds were 15 to 20. Thermal drift was out of the
WSW to SW. Caught lots of 'em where Rt 16 crests the
ridge, and the SW facing portion of the ridge to the right
of launch was also working pretty well. *Lots* of mixing
going on, I had 800-1000' fpm down after leaving some
of the thermals.

Kelvin, Daniel, and I were the second wave of HG pilots.
Then the PG pilots flew, with Marcel getting a nice flight.
Near the end of the day we convinced Ashley to give it a
go (he had some glider re-assembly to get out of the way),
even though it looked like a sled. So he's had his first
east-coast flight, and as he said, it can only get better

Surprisingly good day! Thinking of giving it a try tomorrow
at the Rock, and I know that Danny, Kelvin, and Daniel are
too. Maybe we'll be lucky again!

Mark C.

Ashley Groves · Post by **Ashley Groves** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 8:58 am

Thank You Daniel and Mark for throwing me off; Thank You Mark for finding me and picking me up. Hopefully my next X-C flight will be longer.

I should clarify that this was not my first East Coast Flight. I got my H1 at Morningside in NH years ago.

Ashley

Post by **hepcat1989** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 4:59 pm

I launched saturday morning shortly after Bacil.It was cold that morning, but not horrible.I was set up and about that time Danny Brotto showed up to help Sparky launch me off. Thanks guys!Thanks again to Danny for picking us up, and giving me some theory to chew on.My launch seemed clean enough, so I joined Bacil on the ridge. There was a slight SW cross on the ridge at that time a little after 10am.I managed 400 over for 35mins.I got to a point where I was back to ridge level so I headed out to the main lz to land . Bacil was on his way as well behind me. I thought great this should be interesting. Both setting up an approach. It was not an issue at all.I wanted to get a good landing in after 6 months of non flying.I had a good approach, and landed on my feet with a no stepper.It was a little gusty up on the ridge, but not a problem, I've had worse.I hope to fly all winter long!!!
I had fun! Shawn.

Jamescob · Post by **Jamescob** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 2:37 pm

On Sat, 3 Dec 2005 19:00:40 -0500, Spark wrote
> When I arrived at about 3pm, winds were still 12-18, but quickly
> baked down to the 10-12 range. I launched PG after Marcel and
> James and maintained just at and below ridge height for about 20
> minutes. Laszlo launched last, but was able to outlast me.
>
> We went back up for a second PG flight and got an evening sled rides
> just before sunset. It was not as easy to make the LZ this time -
> we had a SW cross

>
> Thanks to Rich Bloomfield for driving retrieve.Allen Sparks
> 301-462-8320
> http://community.webshots.com/user/sparkozoid

YES RICH THANKS FOR THE DRIVE !!! HOPE TO SEE YA SOON !

http://WWW.JAMESCOB.COM
James Coblentz
jamescob@bigfoot.com

chgpa.org