Gary called and said he was going to try Woodstock. This was a little after 1pm. He picked me up and we went to launch to find Randy Weber waiting. Winds were 11-19, a bit stronger than I had anticipated, but figured I could make a go of it with the Falcon. I launched first followed by randy and Gary. Tom, Mark C, and Hugh arrived a little later. Max altitude was 2700 over. The approach to landing had a significant amount of sink on downwind and base. Managed a decent landing to cap an hour fifty..
Gary is in need of a new truck. He is making water stops about every ten miles and carrying gallons of water with him.
Joe
Sunday Woodstock
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
-
Paul Tjaden
- Posts: 398
- Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:28 pm
Sunday Woodstock
These conditions sound like "Harrisonburg Run" conditions! How about it, Guys? Anyone head south?
?
Paul
?
Paul
Sunday Woodstock
It was hard to imagine it could be so nice at Woodstock when it was
still grey and drizzly in DC. As Joe said it was stronger than we had
expected, with wave clouds early (Tom said he saw them oriented
east-west). Mark helped me pick a lull to launch in - was able to
navigate upwind against the somewhat left cross towards Edinburg with
3/4 VG on. Max 1300 over. Quite pleasant at altitude, but after about
an hour I started to notice the cold (it had dropped from 50 to 44) and
it got real gnarly on the way out to the LZ. Might have been going
catabatic at about 5:50. Landed cleanly despite the somewhat rowdy
conditions over the LZ. Mark and I dined at the Strasburg Inn.
Unexpectedly getting to fly was icing on the cake of a fine weekend
(spent Saturday getting oriented to the sailboat and crew I'm joining
for a trip to Bermuda and back in June). - Hugh
On 20 Mar 2005, at 21:12, Joe Schad wrote:
> Gary called and said he was going to try Woodstock. This was a little
> after 1pm. He picked me up and we went to launch to find Randy Weber
> waiting. Winds were 11-19, a bit stronger than I had anticipated, but
> figured I could make a go of it with the Falcon. I launched first
> followed by randy and Gary. Tom, Mark C, and Hugh arrived a little
> later. Max altitude was 2700 over. The approach to landing had a
> significant amount of sink on downwind and base. Managed a decent
> landing to cap an hour fifty..
>
> Gary is in need of a new truck. He is making water stops about every
> ten miles and carrying gallons of water with him.
>
> Joe
>
>
>
>
>
still grey and drizzly in DC. As Joe said it was stronger than we had
expected, with wave clouds early (Tom said he saw them oriented
east-west). Mark helped me pick a lull to launch in - was able to
navigate upwind against the somewhat left cross towards Edinburg with
3/4 VG on. Max 1300 over. Quite pleasant at altitude, but after about
an hour I started to notice the cold (it had dropped from 50 to 44) and
it got real gnarly on the way out to the LZ. Might have been going
catabatic at about 5:50. Landed cleanly despite the somewhat rowdy
conditions over the LZ. Mark and I dined at the Strasburg Inn.
Unexpectedly getting to fly was icing on the cake of a fine weekend
(spent Saturday getting oriented to the sailboat and crew I'm joining
for a trip to Bermuda and back in June). - Hugh
On 20 Mar 2005, at 21:12, Joe Schad wrote:
> Gary called and said he was going to try Woodstock. This was a little
> after 1pm. He picked me up and we went to launch to find Randy Weber
> waiting. Winds were 11-19, a bit stronger than I had anticipated, but
> figured I could make a go of it with the Falcon. I launched first
> followed by randy and Gary. Tom, Mark C, and Hugh arrived a little
> later. Max altitude was 2700 over. The approach to landing had a
> significant amount of sink on downwind and base. Managed a decent
> landing to cap an hour fifty..
>
> Gary is in need of a new truck. He is making water stops about every
> ten miles and carrying gallons of water with him.
>
> Joe
>
>
>
>
>
Sunday Woodstock
It was late and we might have been scratching low. Besides, no one
volunteered to drive... - Hugh
On 20 Mar 2005, at 21:21, Tjadenhors@aol.com wrote:
> These conditions sound like "Harrisonburg Run" conditions! How about
> it, Guys? Anyone head south?
> ?
> Paul
>
>
>
>
>
volunteered to drive... - Hugh
On 20 Mar 2005, at 21:21, Tjadenhors@aol.com wrote:
> These conditions sound like "Harrisonburg Run" conditions! How about
> it, Guys? Anyone head south?
> ?
> Paul
>
>
>
>
>
Given the late timing of the frontal passage (raindrops on the
windshield at 2:30pm), the strong west-cross conditions, and
the late launch times (about 3:30 for the first-wave pilots), I'd
hazard a guess that today wasn't the best candidate for an
Hburg ridge run.... But maybe someone in a Talon
woulda/shoulda/coulda?
Once past Skyline Drive, the formerly lackluster due south winds
started rockin' the truck, and I started thinking that the day's gamble
might pay off! Met up with Tom and Hugh in the LZ so that we
could drop a couple vehicles, then headed up top where Gary
and Randy were ready to go. We'd seen Joe in the air on the way;
always nice to see pilots soaring as you're heading up the mtn!
We helped the three 'locals' off, then started slamming gliders
together. I think it was about 4:20 when Tom launched. We
recruited a couple wuffos as Hugh was getting ready to go, then
I jumped off last.
Conditions strengthened after the first-wave launches, with some
15-pushing-20 in the slot at times. But there were also frequent lulls,
and all the launches were clean. I had to wait a while through some
significant west cross, charged off, and had one of those major
elevator rides once airborne: 300' over in, like, 10 seconds? Phew!
It was yet-another strong day. Lots of wave clouds upwind. Huge
sink on the rotor-side of fingers and knolls. But surprisingly, given
the wind speeds and the time of day, I hooked three bonafide
spring-like thermals, woo-hoo! Solid lift for multiple turns, the kind
where things get real quiet once cored.... It's been months and
months since I've felt that! Spring flying seems to be getting a bit
of a late start, but we're really close.
I headed toward the gap, but not with any serious thoughts of jumping.
Played around at that last big river bend for a while, topping out at
maybe 1500' over. The lift sometimes seemed more like little snatches
of wave than thermals, but not really smooth or large-scale.
Definitely a challenging day. Conditions picked up towards sunset,
and things were getting turbulent even in the area around launch.
I tried heading out along both the N & S fingers, but was getting trashed.
So finally headed straight out, 3/4 VG, bucking a significant headwind.
Bled off altitude over the field, hoping that things would get a bit
easier... But geez, major wire-slap just a few hundred over the ground.
One of those days where you take a deep breath before heading on your
downwind leg, lemme tell ya!
I landed shortly before sunset, for maybe 1:50 of airtime. I'd guess most
everybody got 2 hours or so. Cold but not arctic-ly so, what a nice change!
--mark c.
windshield at 2:30pm), the strong west-cross conditions, and
the late launch times (about 3:30 for the first-wave pilots), I'd
hazard a guess that today wasn't the best candidate for an
Hburg ridge run.... But maybe someone in a Talon
woulda/shoulda/coulda?
Once past Skyline Drive, the formerly lackluster due south winds
started rockin' the truck, and I started thinking that the day's gamble
might pay off! Met up with Tom and Hugh in the LZ so that we
could drop a couple vehicles, then headed up top where Gary
and Randy were ready to go. We'd seen Joe in the air on the way;
always nice to see pilots soaring as you're heading up the mtn!
We helped the three 'locals' off, then started slamming gliders
together. I think it was about 4:20 when Tom launched. We
recruited a couple wuffos as Hugh was getting ready to go, then
I jumped off last.
Conditions strengthened after the first-wave launches, with some
15-pushing-20 in the slot at times. But there were also frequent lulls,
and all the launches were clean. I had to wait a while through some
significant west cross, charged off, and had one of those major
elevator rides once airborne: 300' over in, like, 10 seconds? Phew!
It was yet-another strong day. Lots of wave clouds upwind. Huge
sink on the rotor-side of fingers and knolls. But surprisingly, given
the wind speeds and the time of day, I hooked three bonafide
spring-like thermals, woo-hoo! Solid lift for multiple turns, the kind
where things get real quiet once cored.... It's been months and
months since I've felt that! Spring flying seems to be getting a bit
of a late start, but we're really close.
I headed toward the gap, but not with any serious thoughts of jumping.
Played around at that last big river bend for a while, topping out at
maybe 1500' over. The lift sometimes seemed more like little snatches
of wave than thermals, but not really smooth or large-scale.
Definitely a challenging day. Conditions picked up towards sunset,
and things were getting turbulent even in the area around launch.
I tried heading out along both the N & S fingers, but was getting trashed.
So finally headed straight out, 3/4 VG, bucking a significant headwind.
Bled off altitude over the field, hoping that things would get a bit
easier... But geez, major wire-slap just a few hundred over the ground.
One of those days where you take a deep breath before heading on your
downwind leg, lemme tell ya!
I landed shortly before sunset, for maybe 1:50 of airtime. I'd guess most
everybody got 2 hours or so. Cold but not arctic-ly so, what a nice change!
--mark c.