Let's try it again: Pulpit 7/18?

[XCanytime]

Maybe this time will be better than 7/11 . Direction should be better, and hopefully NO BLUE HOLE over launch Bacil

[Ward Odenwald]

I'm in. Winds aloft forecast (albeit 50+ hrs out) suggest a flight across PA may be in the cards. That's right, I'm a dreamer but why not!

[BrianL]

Ill jump off a mountain on Sunday. I can only stay to until 5:30pm though (If you need a pick up )

[Batman]

Wish I could join you, I'm in Phoenix where its a balmy 116 degrees today. Just got my hang gliding stuff and gliders unpacked so am going to try and link up with the locals over the next week or so and try and get up wheres its cool. They go high and far during the summer here ... regular flights to 17,999 (on O2) and XC's of 150+ miles. Going to take some adjusting for this former East Coast pilot!

[XCanytime]

Or maybe tomorrow? Bacil

[Ward Odenwald]

Yes, Saturday is now looking good (wind direction, speed and thermal forecast).

[RichH]

I dont know...Sat looks very iffy ..The thermal forcast does look good but forecast is for sw winds even up your way..Not sure if you are going to get the storms predicted here (Richmond) we have a 40% chance of rain and thunderstorms with high reality humidity 63% ususally not good signs ..but if the front does move through up there and doesn't stall..it may turn out .Hope u guys get a good day..I'll probably wait and hope Sunday turns out to be a bit better for towing...

[BrianL]

Hope today worked out for the people that flew today, but is anyone thinking still going tomorrow? The one cast is calling for WNW at 8-10.

[DanTuck]

Today sucked. Tomorrow's forecast looks much better.
As of now I'll be there, ETA around 11:00.

[mcgowantk]

Today did not turn out as I had hoped, but I did get over an hour and 1700' over. But high cirrus shut down the lift and wsw winds made soaring challenging to say the least.

I hope tomorrow turns out better for you. The forecast does look promising.

Tom McGowan

[tomceunen]

Some of the PG flew Dickeys Ridge today Sunday. We had a storm south messing up the weather but at 4P all was clear and the cirrus was also gone. Air went Magic till beyond sunset. We also flew Dickeys Ridge at Saturday, quite good with an inversion that broke later on the day and some I-66 entertainment for automobiles. Some drivers even called 911, a popular number it looks like. And the local sheriff is really a good guy giving us rides when possible.
Cheers
Tom

[mcelrah]

I'm in for the real Sunday 18 July. - Hugh

[hang_pilot]

I'm in, too. ~Daniel 301-275-6584

[BrianL]

Just putting the glider on the car. ETA 10:30. 845-264-4672-Brian

[RichH]

Today is looking much better with good thermal forecast a lower realitive humidity 53% slightly better wind direction w in the Maryland area..Here in Richmond its froecasted to be WSW 5-10 on the ground ..Should be a good day if you can stand the 96 degree temps..

[carweill]

OK

On my way

Carlos

[XCanytime]

Should have stuck with my original prediction. It was dang good today. Pics and story to follow. Bacil

[mcelrah]

Not to steal Bacil's steam, but it was indeed a good day. Ward launched first and I think he went farthest - I heard him report east of 81 - should be a good story. Daniel Broxterman was next, then Bacil, then me. We ended up strung out along route 30 at 8, 10, and 15 miles. Carlos, Dan Tuckwiler, Brian L, and old timer - not the same as "old guy" - Keith all flew. Look forward to their stories.

I got a mild thermal (that's all I found all day) to 4000 msl/1800 over and was drifting over the back with it. (This is less than the 2500 over that I want to go over the back, but being in lift or at least zero sink, it worked out OK.) I spent a lot of time over historic Fort Louden working mild thermals and finally got back up to 3600 or so, got within range of a good looking cloud further along 30 and worked it to 3800 but then lost it all and landed south of 30 at the Village of St. Thomas west of Chambersburg.

After packing up and stashing my gear behind a barn, I started hitch-hiking. Unusually, a woman alone in her car picked me up, although she had her husband on the cell phone the whole time. She dropped me back on route 30 at a stop light. A solemn young man picked me up and had a cold drinks for me! We saw Bacil breaking down on the side of the road, but he already had retrieve set up with Brian. Next we picked up Daniel. Scott, our kind Samaritan, took us all the way to launch and appreciated the view.

Joined my wife at a swimming hole north of Ellicott City for a refreshing swim. Still pretty wiped out by the heat. What a fine day!

- Hugh

[DanTuck]

Ahhh, much better than yesterday. After Ward, Hugh, Bacil, Daniel, and Brian all launched, it ramped up a little more. At the same time Carlos, Keith and I were noticing that no one was getting very high except Hugh who was a few miles East. There seemed to be a lot of pointing straight out and very little "circling." So we gave it a little while to hopefully back down some and heat up a little. After all, it was only 1:00PM. As we stood there it began to back down and within 10 minutes it was actually light. Like, not so sure this is even soarable light. When that happened, it was like someone turned on the thermal switch and Daniel, Ward, and Brian all started climbing. Bacil was way down the ridge when this was going on and before long Ward and Daniel were pointed East. Carlos and I decided to drop his truck in the field so Brian, who was on a schedule, would have a way up. Back up top it was coming in nice but self launchable. Clouds were forming in the valley out front, looked good. Carlos went first with a nice launch and I followed, I think around 2:00PM. I saw Carlos geting up down by Rt. 16 but I wanted to hang out by launch to make sure Keith got off okay. As he was on launch I hooked into a nice thermal and climbed up to 1K over. As I climbed I could see Bacil getting high and drifting over the back. When I looked down again, Keith had just launched so I cruised out into the valley towards a great looking cloud. On the way I started getting hammered but I kept on truckin because I knew I would get through the sink and into the monster thermal it surrounded. When I was down to 200' over, I got the hell out of there and high-tailed it back to the ridge near 16. I got there below launch level and couldn't find anything anywhere. Carlos and Keith were struggling at that point also, the ridge had really shut down. We all stayed as close to the trees as we dared and milked every beep. You could clearly see the lift on the trees below and how spotty it was. At one point I was down 300' below launch and finally found a little section of the ridge just North of 16 that was working, maybe 100 yards wide. I zig-zagged around there in 50-100fpm and slowly worked my way back up over the ridge. Once over the ridge I stair stepped my way up in much more organized thermals to 1,800' over. It was gloriously cool up there and I was in good position to head East but as I listened to Hugh on the radio driving past Bacil who was almost done breaking down, I opted to stay local and make things a lot easier. I flew around for another half hour or so in the valley searching around for something good. Found a few small climbs but nothing great so I headed in and joined Brian, Keith and Carlos in a pretty rowdy primary. Thankfully it was only about 2 million degrees in the field and I only lost about 20 lbs. of water weight. It's a good thing I wasn't trying to hitch-hike... As we were leaving, RichB showed up so we went back up top and got him off. Another great day!

[Ward Odenwald]

Hey Hugh,

It was a good day but I didn't even come close to 81. I wanted to fly over 81 but I ran out of gas west of 81 and landed at a dairy farm near Larmar Rd and Rt 16. After leaving the ridge at 4900 MSL, I found only small disorganized thermals over the small towns along the route. My iphone GPS finder indicates a straight line distance from launch of 8 miles. I'll post some photos tomorrow. If any one made if farther than 10 miles today, that's very good! Congratulations!!

[hang_pilot]

It was tough climbing out today. I had measured gusts up to 24 on the ramp around noon, so maybe the thermals were getting shredded. After several cycles of flying out front to catch a thermal and drifting back toward the ridge only to have it top off at 500 to 1000 over, I finally took two climbs to 3 grand over. I went over the back and basically lawn darted flying along Rt 30 toward a cloud that if it had an up elevator, I sure couldn't find it.

3000 over, 1:20, 8 (!!!!) miles

I made the decision in the flats to head toward the only cloud I had on glide, but that track took me cross-wind through some massive sink. Guess I should have stayed in the light-up to light-down stuff I had been in as I crossed the second ridge or just flown straight down wind as the lift seemed to be streeted up.

I had a weak launch from the pad and that made me pretty susceptible to my wings getting bumped as I flew away from the terrain without enough energy in the equation. Everything turned out ok, but it gives me something to think about/work on. Had a good landing in St. Thomas. After a while of trying to bum a ride from various patrons of Suzie's Thrift Store, I started hitching. A few minutes into that, a nice looking SUV pulls over with Hugh and his good samaritan who promptly offers me a handshake and and a cup of ice-water.

Did anyone fly Highland today? I had considered it, but just went with the flow up to Pulpit.

Cheers,
Daniel

[XCanytime]

The dry Great Cove Golf Club course in the lower left foreground.

Ward and Daniel soaring in front of launch.

Rt. 522 and Little Scrub Ridge.

Looking back at launch from an upwind perch.

Looking north up Rt. 75.

[XCanytime]

Looking east. My LZ is the brown strip in the foreground across from the Rt. 30/Rt. 416 junction.

Getting low looking south. Rt. 416 is to the right.

Cool refreshments at the Citgo Station.

My obstacle laden LZ.

[XCanytime]

Hit the road with the control tower's approval just after 10A. Got there just after 12 noon and found 4 pilots set up and 2 others setting up. Hustled and got ready to go in 20 minutes since I had to be back "early". Launched after Ward and Daniel from the pad around 12:45P. Got right up and cruised around between launch and Rt. 16 getting 1100' over max. Saw Ward, Daniel, and Brian Leisenring low by launch, so I headed south towards The Corner towards some nice looking clouds. Didn't find too much way down there, then I hear on the radio that Ward, Daniel, and Hugh are heading OTB. So with a quartering tailwind from The Corner, I beeline back to launch to find only Brian around stinking high and Carlos, Dan, and Keith still waiting to launch. I see really nice clouds up by the VOR to the north, so I gain up to 700' over and cross the power lines and loiter in the area of the houses just north of the bar. I see a nice cloud upwind and fly towards it. I gain up to 3100' MSL and it quits. I fly back to the houses. I go back upwind and gain to 3400' MSL before it quits. I head back again to the houses and stay and wait for the clouds to come over me. Things start happening and I climb in choppy, ratty lift to 4900' MSL and slowly drift OTB. Nice clouds are above me and due east of me so I fish around and gain to 5300' MSL over Kitatinny Mountain. See a nice cloud over St. Thomas and head for it, xwind. Like Daniel, I sink like a stone in the serious down between the lift lines and loiter over Rt. 30 just west of St. Thomas scoping out LZs. Crops everywhere, so I settle on a sketchy huge open area right by Rt. 30. I see a nice cut strip facing SW a little upwind, and I see in the crops that the surface wind is SW. I bailed on the sketchy area (good that I did because it was way contoured and rocky), headed xwind to the strip, and had a nice landing at 2:45P among many hay bales in the cut strip. Carried over to Rt. 30 and broke down. The ladies working at the Citgo station had their faces pressed up against the window like little kids. Daniel Broxterman stopped by and gave me a body ride back to launch. Much thanks Daniel! I was able to get home by 6:30P ("early") and enjoy steamed crabs and beer with the control tower .

Bacil

[bustedwing2]

Got up to launch about 4-4:30,cars in the lot but nobody around,saw gliders in the LZ,drove down and arranged to be thrown off,Thanks to Dan and Keith,2 hot ,tired pilots who were ready to go home but hung around and waited for me to set up and got me safely launched,since my car was in the primary and this was this years first mountain flight for me,I stuck to my plan,flew down the ridge in light relatively smooth ridge lift,a few small bubbles on the way,nothing worth turning in,made a few passes over the house at rt16,got maybe 100 over,hit some sink and lost 250 ft,headed for the lz and called it day.If anybody found a wingtip fairing,possibly at Bill's I know somebody who lost one.Thanks again to Keith and Dan for tossing me off. RichB