High Rock Friday (Long)

[rs54263]

Yesterday turned out to be a great day at High Rock! As I left home, I
wasn't sure if I would actually get to fly; I was leaving late, and I
was afraid there wouldn't be any launch crew by the time I got there.
I didn't care. After 3 weeks of overtime at work, I was happy just to
be getting out of Dodge. When I arrived, Shawn and Sparks were just
hanging out; Kinsley had been flying but had just landed after an hour
and 20, and conditions looked good. I immediately started to set up,
and the guys offered to shuttle my truck down, while they picked up
Steve so he get his car, and help launch me. As I finished setting up,
and the guys hadn't returned yet, a woman came up to me with a camera
hanging from her neck, and said that she wanted to ask me "a Bill
Engvall/'Here's Your Sign' type of question", and was I preparing to
jump off of that cliff over there? I told her I was, and she asked if
it would be soon (yes, as soon as the guys returned from the LZ), and
would I mind of she and her husband took pictures of me? I told her I
absolutely didn't mind, and we spend the next 10 minutes or so chatting
about flying. By the time Sparks arrived, it had really clouded over,
so I opted to wait for him to set up his big tandem falcon before I
launched, hoping that the sky would open up again a little before I
launched. A little bit later, Steve opined that the conditions looked
really good, and that I should get into my glider and get up on launch.
Taking his advice, I suited up, and got ready to go.

I launched around 4:00, and turned to the right (into the wind), and
flew across the bowl with my vario chirping lightly; finally made a
gentle turn and came back, with the winds (and lift) picking up, and
came back to launch about 100 over. The lift seemed reasonably solid,
and I went back into the bowl, and managed to hook something strong
that took me up to 1000 over, before I had to leave it because I was
getting close to the towers and the wind was stronger aloft. After
about 15 minutes, I saw Sparks launch and turn to the left; I think he
made a pass or two, but didn't appear to get up, and then he was headed
out towards the LZ. About the same time, I was sinking pretty quickly
myself; the entire launch area was clouded over, but the point to the
north had sun on it, so I decided to use what altitude I had to get
over there. I managed to find a very small piece of light lift, and I
worked it for the next 20-25 minutes, clawing for the sky and resisting
gravity with everything that I had. There were quite a few turkey
vultures around, and one came close by to check me out. I can just
imagine what he was thinking: "Ok, that big purple and white bird is
pretty colorful, but he STINKS at flying! Look at him wallowing around
like a wet fledgling!" Finally, the lift got strong and cohesive
enough for me to get back over launch; the photographer couple was
still there, and took a few more pictures of me, then I watched them
drive off, and found myself completely alone. It's kind of weird to
look down at the HR launch and not see *any* people. On Saturday I had
landed after 57 minutes because of the fading light, so my goal was to
try and hang on for an hour of air time. This was easier said then
done; there was a definite north cross aloft, and the air was not very
smooth; and considering how strong the wind was, the lift was not as
bulletproof as one might have hoped for. As I approached the 55-minute
mark, I saw Sparks back on launch, scrambling for his camera; the lift
was dying, and it was getting harder and harder to stay above launch,
but I tried to hang on for two more minutes while he took pictures; at
0:57 I finally had had enough, and headed out to the LZ. As I crossed
the train tracks, I caught some really sinky air, and had to pull in to
get to the LZ; I got there with just enough time and altitude to cross
the top end of the field and fly a quick DBF approach; the bottom
dropped out as I turned on to final, and I was just able to get both
hand on the downtubes in time for a quick flare and a landing on my
feet, with chrono reading exactly 1:00!

What a flight! Not the easiest flying by any means, but having made my
goal, I have to say it was tremendously satisfying. It also felt a bit
self-indulgent to be at the other end of the camera for a change. (I
had my camera with me, but it never made it out of the car.) Huge
thanks to Shawn and Sparks for taking my car down to the LZ, and to
Steve for prodding me when he did. And to top it all off, I have some
pictures from Sparks to remember it by - icing on the cake!

~Ralph

================================================================
from: Spark (09/24/2005 08:47)
================================================================

Steve, Ralph, Shawn and me. Steve flew earlier in the day and specked.
Shawn Ray came up a bit later and we waited for Ralph to arrive. We
shuttled Ralph's car to the LZ. I launched after Ralph in the Tandem
and found that the air was a bit too sporty. After a few passes, I got
'spit out' in front of launch with a dramatic dive for airspeed. I
landed a few minutes later. Basically, I flew the wrong glider.

When I returned to get the truck, Ralph was hanging out in front of
launch, so I took some photos.

http://community.webshots.com/album/459005940oiuppK

Thanks to Shawn for coming out to help.'Spark
301-462-8320
http://community.webshots.com/user/sparkozoid

[Scott]

Ha! Great story Ralph. I think I would actually have liked flying over launch with nobody there---just me and the wind and the birds. I could imagine you looking at the LZ...looking at the watch...looking at the LZ...looking at the watch...and just squeaking in at one hour!

Scott

[hepcat1989]

It was good to watch, and learn. Glad I could be there! Good Flight Ralph!
Shawn.