Second half of Pulpit : Sat19Feb

[markc]

The tally of crazies at the Pulpit today included Matthew & Karen,
Bacil, Dave P, Gary, Joe S, Linda, Brian VH, 'Spark, Marcell &
Corinne (visiting PG pilots from Switzerland), Dave B, John Simon,
Craig, et moi.

After Bacil's flight we figured waiting would be a good bet : for a bit
more wind, and for the sun to get in front of the mtn. Leisurely ran a
shuttle down to the LZ with Dave P. and Dave B. Headed back up,
looked at conditions for a while, started seriously thinking about
launching.

And then the winds started to build....

With a W10-15 'cast I was prepared for 20 or even 25; it's the Pulpit
after all. But the damn gust factor : 10 ; 25 ; 15 ; 20 ; 10 ;
10 ; fooled ya 25 . Ha ha!

Darn fickle winds!

Dave P gave it a go at maybe 1:00-ish, but ended up backing off
launch. Then the hang-waiting commenced. Does this story sound
familiar yet?

It was blowing really good, pushing 30 from time to time. There was
plenty of 15-20, but nothing I'd want to go off in because of the gusts.
To make a very long day short, things started to mellow down about
an hour before sunset, and I jumped off a bit later for a 40 minute
flight, toppping out at 1300' over. Matthew and Gary joined me a bit
later.

Lots-o-lift! Went cruising to the north for a bit, but no way to really
go anywhere given the imminent sunset. Lots of sink too, and some
cycles with major headwind : very much a VG-needed type of day.

Still, the flight definitely qualified as fun, with some thermalling well
away from the ridge and a really beautiful sunset. Wish more pilots
had been able to launch...

Six of us headed to McKinstry's in Mercersburg at the end of the
day for drinks and dinner. Hmmm... that may have been the highlight
of the day come to think of it. At least it was warm inside!

--mark

[breezyk1d]

Waiting, waiting, waiting til almost sunset, getting ready just in case the winds backed down to an H2 launch cycle, hooked in and hauled glider to the bottom of the steps, on my knees bowing to the wind gods and the observer god who was standing at the top of the ramp debating, debating; waited thru a short cycle of launchable wind speed when Karen wisely radioed to Matthew at 1000' over to inquire about penetrability...No go for a falcon! Unhooked and watched the airborne folks landings in the dusky dusk. A good training day in HG standards: wait, wait, and wait. Next time's the charm! Many thank you's to Brian VH who observed, walked the primary and secondary with John S. and I, and waited, and waited and waited just in case an opportunity to fly presented itself; and Spark, Dave B, Craigin, Karen who stuck around to provide crew in the event the magic wind genie happened for me. And to Dave B. who bought a round of drinks for the dinner crew in honor of his H3 - may your flights be wise and awesome forever after!

[brianvh]

Actually we got Linda in flight mode when I went up and noticed the wind
blowing about 10 or less with gusts of only +/-3 or 4. Stayed like that
for a full minute and Sparky agreed that maybe the gale was over. After
preflighting Linda I ran back up and it still looked good. As the
glider moved past Karen questioned whether this was a wise idea. Got Linda
up to the top and noticed it had picked up a bit. Just then Karen got
Matt on the radio and he emphatically confirmed her suspicions that it was
not H2 conditions. When I heard him say there were massive sinkholes all
over I decided it was over. Linda wanted to stay up top to watch the
other gliders and hope it would suddenly become good. But Cragin started
measuring gusts above 20 mph. Sucker lull. Even without all the
measurements and reports I seriously doubt I would have done a launch based
on what I felt at the ramp, but it was good to get multiple feedback.
Thanks to all.

Brian Vant-Hull
301-646-1149

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005, breezyk1d wrote:

> Waiting, waiting, waiting til almost sunset, getting ready just in case t=
he winds backed down to an H2 launch cycle, hooked in and hauled glider to =
the bottom of the steps, on my knees bowing to the wind gods and the observ=
er god who was standing at the top of the ramp debating, debating; waited t=
hru a short cycle of launchable wind speed when Karen wisely radioed to Mat=
thew at 1000' over to inquire about penetrability...No go for a falcon! Un=
hooked and watched the airborne folks landings in the dusky dusk. A good t=
raining day in HG standards: wait, wait, and wait. Next time's the charm! =
Many thank you's to Brian VH who observed, walked the primary and secondary=
with John S. and I, and waited, and waited and waited just in case an oppo=
rtunity to fly presented itself; and Spark, Dave B, Craigin, Karen who stuc=
k around to provide crew in the event the magic wind genie happened for me.=
And to Dave B. who bought a round of drinks for the dinner crew in honor =
of his H3 - may your flights be wise and awesome forever after!