Ellis, Dan Tomlinson, Randy Weber, and I rang in the new year of flying at Daniel's today. Ellis, Dan and I flew PG first, launching around 1 PM. There was abundant lift to 6-800 over - but we were being cautious because of a predicted acceleration of wind, so I for one repeatedly went out front to test penetration and lose altitude, then returned to the ridge on this, my first high flight in my new Airwave Sport Comp (still a 1-2 glider despite the name). On the third trip out, I needed half speedbar to penetrate, so decided to land with 45 minutes. Meanwhile Randy had arrived and set up his U2 160. Ellis and I drove most of the way back up and I joined Randy while she packed BOTH of our gliders (!). Randy had a good launch but sank out during a wind shift (when it went to far west, the lift got ratty and weak at this south-facing site). I set up my Sport 2, while Ellis ad Dan came up to help me with hang-check etc. and took all the vehicles down. After 40 minutes of slowly losing altitude from a high of 600 over launch, I experienced the same wind shift as Randy and went out to land. We felt grateful to have had satisfactory flights in spite of a less-than-stellar forecast. Ellis, Dan and I celebrated at "Le Pomme" in Gordonsville ($$ but delicious!).
- Hugh
Daniel's Saturday 15 January
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