We'll need the help of the famous Woodstock Effect with the winds forecast at 20 and decreaasing, but it sure looks like tomorrow is a day to head out to Woodstock.
Winds peak in the wee hours tonight and decrease all day Sunday. Skies to be clear. Hank reports the road is open.
Cautionary conditions for H2s and single surface gliders, but I think it is worth
an afternoon out there. No particular benefit to an early morning arrival.
Dinner in Strassburg, anyone?
Cragin
Woodstock Sunday 1/15?
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
Woodstock Sunday 1/15?
The forecast I have been looking at don't look at all promising
especially the airport forecasts for the area. ADDS looks better but
not great. I'll take another look in the AM.
Can't get access to the web forum for this post.
Joe
-----Original Message-----
From: garys [mailto:gsmith@woodmark.com]
Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2006 11:28 AM
To: hg_forum@chgpa.org
Subject: Woodstock Sunday 1/15?
I'm in. ETA; 12:30 in the LZ. Anyone need a ride up?
Gary Smith
H 540-955-3956
C 540-664-6843
W 540-955-3174x490
especially the airport forecasts for the area. ADDS looks better but
not great. I'll take another look in the AM.
Can't get access to the web forum for this post.
Joe
-----Original Message-----
From: garys [mailto:gsmith@woodmark.com]
Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2006 11:28 AM
To: hg_forum@chgpa.org
Subject: Woodstock Sunday 1/15?
I'm in. ETA; 12:30 in the LZ. Anyone need a ride up?
Gary Smith
H 540-955-3956
C 540-664-6843
W 540-955-3174x490
-
Flying Lobster
- Posts: 1042
- Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 4:17 pm
WS could be doable tomorrow... There *have* been
a few days with decent flyable conditions, even with
forecasts calling for gusts to 30.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/ifps/MapClick.p ... &map.y=121
Maybe a late day flight.... All depends on how quickly
the strong stuff moves out. I'm likely to at least take a
look, ETA maybe 1:30 or so.
Mark C.
a few days with decent flyable conditions, even with
forecasts calling for gusts to 30.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/ifps/MapClick.p ... &map.y=121
Maybe a late day flight.... All depends on how quickly
the strong stuff moves out. I'm likely to at least take a
look, ETA maybe 1:30 or so.
Mark C.
-
Flying Lobster
- Posts: 1042
- Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 4:17 pm
I'm encouraged a bit.... The 6am update to the forecast
at the link in my last post now shows the 30mph gusts
ending at 3:00pm, and winds NW@15. Course, that's just
the surface.
The ADDS 3k cast shows Woodstock right at the edge
of the lighter 20-30 stuff at 4:00pm.
So.... Still definitely a gamble. I'm considering a hike
up to Signal Knob (info below), and then heading to
WStock to see what the winds are doing.
Anyone else interested?
Mark C.
Trailhead: Signal Knob / Bear Wallow parking lot, on Rt 678
one mile north of Elizabeth Furnace.
S. Knob: yellow
Massanutten Mtn West: orange
Bear Wallow: blue
Bear Wallow Spur: white
(or, skip the loop, return on yellow/orange)
at the link in my last post now shows the 30mph gusts
ending at 3:00pm, and winds NW@15. Course, that's just
the surface.
The ADDS 3k cast shows Woodstock right at the edge
of the lighter 20-30 stuff at 4:00pm.
So.... Still definitely a gamble. I'm considering a hike
up to Signal Knob (info below), and then heading to
WStock to see what the winds are doing.
Anyone else interested?
Mark C.
Trailhead: Signal Knob / Bear Wallow parking lot, on Rt 678
one mile north of Elizabeth Furnace.
S. Knob: yellow
Massanutten Mtn West: orange
Bear Wallow: blue
Bear Wallow Spur: white
(or, skip the loop, return on yellow/orange)
Woodstock Sunday 1/15?
Looks like Gary Smith, Cragin, and I are coming around 1P to 2P.
????????????????????????????????????????????????? Bacil
????????????????????????????????????????????????? Bacil
Woodstock Sunday 1/15?
it's blowing like hell here South of Manassas.? My semi-rural location is usually a pretty good indicator of conditions at Woodstock.? It's going to have to shut down a lot to be safe much less pleasant.
Use good judgement everybody.? I'm passing.
Dan T.
Use good judgement everybody.? I'm passing.
Dan T.
Very interesting day at Woodstock, as Bacil mentioned.
After seeing his roller-coaster ride, and watching Gary
dealing with strong winds, and remembering that the
'cast didn't have the 30mph gusts easing until (at best)
3:00, I decided to wait around for a while. Got reports
from the other pilots after they had landed, and tried
to figure out if it was going to be one of those wish-I-was-
on-the-ground type of days.
Decided what-the-heck around 4:00 : Winds had been
just trickling in, but when I got to launch they picked
up quite a bit, with that winter-time roar audible for
maybe 15 minutes or so. Never slacked off, so I decided
to back off launch, flying the glider backwards and up
the slot with Craig's help.
Had pretty much decided to break down.... But then winds
backed down to a trickle again. Hemmed and hawed, then
decided to give it another try with Craig and Joe S for crew
(thanks guys!). Good launch, flew straight out (very important
on days like today), got away from the mountain, then looked
for lift to the left of launch.
Definitely strong and unpredictable air : 3 or 400 up one second,
then 800 down the next. Around 500' over it was fairly decent,
and even a bit of fun sometimes : Was able to circle in lift and
enjoy the setting sun a few times, and the air was about as
clear as I've ever seen. BUT! You had to be very vigilant, and
have a good feel for what the air was about to do. I briefly went
above 700' at the north finger, but just didn't like how things felt,
and got down quick.
Landed at sunset: some unusual sink at times during the
approach, but not too bad. Randy drove my truck down, so a
big thanks to him (and his buddy Justin, who ran shuttle earlier).
Overall, I'm glad I went. I think today was one of those days
when altitude played a key role in the type of experience you
had : turbulent down low, and wicked-strong up high.
Mark C.
After seeing his roller-coaster ride, and watching Gary
dealing with strong winds, and remembering that the
'cast didn't have the 30mph gusts easing until (at best)
3:00, I decided to wait around for a while. Got reports
from the other pilots after they had landed, and tried
to figure out if it was going to be one of those wish-I-was-
on-the-ground type of days.
Decided what-the-heck around 4:00 : Winds had been
just trickling in, but when I got to launch they picked
up quite a bit, with that winter-time roar audible for
maybe 15 minutes or so. Never slacked off, so I decided
to back off launch, flying the glider backwards and up
the slot with Craig's help.
Had pretty much decided to break down.... But then winds
backed down to a trickle again. Hemmed and hawed, then
decided to give it another try with Craig and Joe S for crew
(thanks guys!). Good launch, flew straight out (very important
on days like today), got away from the mountain, then looked
for lift to the left of launch.
Definitely strong and unpredictable air : 3 or 400 up one second,
then 800 down the next. Around 500' over it was fairly decent,
and even a bit of fun sometimes : Was able to circle in lift and
enjoy the setting sun a few times, and the air was about as
clear as I've ever seen. BUT! You had to be very vigilant, and
have a good feel for what the air was about to do. I briefly went
above 700' at the north finger, but just didn't like how things felt,
and got down quick.
Landed at sunset: some unusual sink at times during the
approach, but not too bad. Randy drove my truck down, so a
big thanks to him (and his buddy Justin, who ran shuttle earlier).
Overall, I'm glad I went. I think today was one of those days
when altitude played a key role in the type of experience you
had : turbulent down low, and wicked-strong up high.
Mark C.
-
theflyingdude
- Posts: 359
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:40 pm
- Location: Cumberland, MD
Flying hang gliders in conditions like we had on Sunday is like playing Russian roulette. On any given day, the odds of survival are probably in your favor, but if you do it enough times, you're eventually going to get to the chamber with a bullet in it.
With spring x-c season only a couple months away, I think discretion would be the greater part of valor on these marginal days. It's never a good thing to break yourself, but it's especially not a good thing to do when the best time of the year is not very far off.
JR
With spring x-c season only a couple months away, I think discretion would be the greater part of valor on these marginal days. It's never a good thing to break yourself, but it's especially not a good thing to do when the best time of the year is not very far off.
JR
I certainly agree that flying in strong conditions is a much riskier
proposition than your average type of day... But comparing it to
Russian Roulette implies that nothing can be done to help reduce
those risks.
Yesterday, I had the benefit of:
- watching three launches; no surprises within the slot, all
three were clean
- visual observation after one launch showing that conditions
low and close were turbulent: so get out and away immediately
after launching
- landing reports from three pilots; no horror stories
- a glider with good performance: to make a beeline for
the LZ if I didn't like how things were going
- launching at least an hour and a half after the first pilot,
when conditions had mellowed out a bit (and the KMRB, KOKV,
KSHD observations show how that happened, right around
4:00)
I backed off launch the first time because I had convinced
myself that we were experiencing one of those late day
Woodstock ramp-ups. Should have been more patient, would
have saved some sore muscles
If any of our readers are new pilots, chomping at the bit :
although my flight did register on my fun-o-meter, it was
also one that require continual reassessment and vigilance,
with every pass along the ridge and at every spine. I would
not have recommended that air for anyone without a good
number of flying years behind them.
I'm not ignoring Jim's point : I know that any pilot can be
unpleasantly surprised by changing conditions. But I wanted
to make sure people knew that there *was* risk and conditions
assessment prior to my decision to fly yesterday.
Mark C.
proposition than your average type of day... But comparing it to
Russian Roulette implies that nothing can be done to help reduce
those risks.
Yesterday, I had the benefit of:
- watching three launches; no surprises within the slot, all
three were clean
- visual observation after one launch showing that conditions
low and close were turbulent: so get out and away immediately
after launching
- landing reports from three pilots; no horror stories
- a glider with good performance: to make a beeline for
the LZ if I didn't like how things were going
- launching at least an hour and a half after the first pilot,
when conditions had mellowed out a bit (and the KMRB, KOKV,
KSHD observations show how that happened, right around
4:00)
I backed off launch the first time because I had convinced
myself that we were experiencing one of those late day
Woodstock ramp-ups. Should have been more patient, would
have saved some sore muscles
If any of our readers are new pilots, chomping at the bit :
although my flight did register on my fun-o-meter, it was
also one that require continual reassessment and vigilance,
with every pass along the ridge and at every spine. I would
not have recommended that air for anyone without a good
number of flying years behind them.
I'm not ignoring Jim's point : I know that any pilot can be
unpleasantly surprised by changing conditions. But I wanted
to make sure people knew that there *was* risk and conditions
assessment prior to my decision to fly yesterday.
Mark C.