Tomorrow is looking like it could be flyable at the Pulpit... any interest? Any observers willing to come out?
Thanks!!
Pulpit Friday 7-22??
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
Re: Pulpit Friday 7-22??
I'm in!!! Who else?????
Jon
Jon
Re: Pulpit Friday 7-22??
I'm interested! Do we have an observer, Amy?
Jesse
Jesse
Re: Pulpit Friday 7-22??
Not yet... still hoping!!!! (wink... wink...)
Re: Pulpit Friday 7-22??
Bacil is working, right? John M and John D are out. I sent Ward a text. Anyone else? Can we kidnap Hugh yet? 
Are the PGers going? Ellis maybe? I probably won't g unless we hear from someone.
Are the PGers going? Ellis maybe? I probably won't g unless we hear from someone.
Re: Pulpit Friday 7-22??
Ward can't either
Re: Pulpit Friday 7-22??
heading to the Pulpit. ETA 1030. Hopefully will be able to give a live update when we get there, giving news of superb conditions, enticing all away from their prior commitments to come join 
jon
jon
Re: Pulpit Friday 7-22??
No success on flying for me today but valuable weather insights gained:
Amy and I headed straight down to the LZs when we arrived and and walked both the secondary (still in pretty good shape grass height wise) and the primary (still mowed on the bottom edge of the main field making a final heading WSW to SW workable, and also completely mowed on the upper field, corn in between) We made it up to launch by about 1130 to find find lots of haze, light overall winds at launch with occasional thermals rolling through and some fairly big clouds already in the sky nearby.
I got to work setting up. It wasn't too bad heat wise up at launch because there was lots of shade to be found. By the time I was all set up and ready to go it was close to 1230. I drank some water, played around with my new vario and waited hopefully for it to "turn on"....I REALLY wanted to fly today.....partly because I haven't had a whole lot of luck with things working out on couple of my recent outings. A little after 1pm I went back up to launch to check things out........hoping that conditions were going to be sweet because I REALLY wanted to fly. I noticed the haze was still ever present, which made it pretty difficult to figure out what was going on in the sky even a short distance away from launch. The clouds I could see were bigger than before and seemed to be expanding pretty rapidly.....not individual cummies with blue holes around them but larger conglomerations with visibly expanding appendages. They were not the text book cumulonimbus clouds but I wondered if they were heading that way. They were pretty intimidating. I checked the radar on the trusty iphone and could see some smaller cells starting to pop up to the WSW and SW of us........small, but still present. The clouds, the haze that made it so difficult to see what exactly was going on and finally the radar..........I put the brakes on. I changed gears from I REALLY want to fly to I just really want to understand whats happening in the sky and if I either don't understand it or I do and don't like it...then I'm not flying. More water, shade and watching.
As I was done breaking my glider down a little after 2pm we could start to hear thunder and received a short lasting light drizzle of rain. After I put the glider on the truck I walked up to launch and the sky to the WSW, SW and S was dark and getting darker.
By the time we were turing off of Rt 30 onto 75 at the bottom of the mountain you could see frequent lightning and the gust front blowing everything all over the place had lowered the outside airtemp by AT LEAST 20 degrees!
A couple lessons learned:
Obviously it was hazy, hot, and humid today.......I have a new respect for haze and its ability to hide things developing in the sky or at least delay your understanding of what is going on.
Even if your pretty new at this, your gut feeling is a pretty good resource when looking at a cloud and wondering if it is ODing .
Gust fronts are powerful, fast and a force I never want to reckon with when flying a hang glider. They come quick!!!
Don't let your desire to fly, delay you from doing what you know you should.....break down, pack it up and fly another day.
I know a lot of you are probably thinking, "what an idiot for going out on a hot, hazy, humid day like today...what did he think was going to happen"
and to be honest I don't have much of a sensible response to that. Only this: I REALLY wanted to fly today. The wind direction looked good, the thermal forecast was nice and I had a wonderful girlfriend ready and willing to drive So I started off REALLY wanting to fly..............But I ended up REALLY happy that I now have first hand, in the flesh experience with this......I am reading Pagens books but it seems a much more thorough and sticking lesson when you live it and see it for yourself. I think going out to a site and seeing what the conditions are and how they develop is a wonderful thing..........well a close second anyway if you don't get to fly 
Sorry for the novel...wish it was a story of soaring at cloud base
Jon
Amy and I headed straight down to the LZs when we arrived and and walked both the secondary (still in pretty good shape grass height wise) and the primary (still mowed on the bottom edge of the main field making a final heading WSW to SW workable, and also completely mowed on the upper field, corn in between
) We made it up to launch by about 1130 to find find lots of haze, light overall winds at launch with occasional thermals rolling through and some fairly big clouds already in the sky nearby. I got to work setting up. It wasn't too bad heat wise up at launch because there was lots of shade to be found. By the time I was all set up and ready to go it was close to 1230. I drank some water, played around with my new vario and waited hopefully for it to "turn on"....I REALLY wanted to fly today.....partly because I haven't had a whole lot of luck with things working out on couple of my recent outings. A little after 1pm I went back up to launch to check things out........hoping that conditions were going to be sweet because I REALLY wanted to fly. I noticed the haze was still ever present, which made it pretty difficult to figure out what was going on in the sky even a short distance away from launch. The clouds I could see were bigger than before and seemed to be expanding pretty rapidly.....not individual cummies with blue holes around them but larger conglomerations with visibly expanding appendages. They were not the text book cumulonimbus clouds but I wondered if they were heading that way. They were pretty intimidating. I checked the radar on the trusty iphone and could see some smaller cells starting to pop up to the WSW and SW of us........small, but still present. The clouds, the haze that made it so difficult to see what exactly was going on and finally the radar..........I put the brakes on. I changed gears from I REALLY want to fly to I just really want to understand whats happening in the sky and if I either don't understand it or I do and don't like it...then I'm not flying. More water, shade and watching.
As I was done breaking my glider down a little after 2pm we could start to hear thunder and received a short lasting light drizzle of rain. After I put the glider on the truck I walked up to launch and the sky to the WSW, SW and S was dark and getting darker.
By the time we were turing off of Rt 30 onto 75 at the bottom of the mountain you could see frequent lightning and the gust front blowing everything all over the place had lowered the outside airtemp by AT LEAST 20 degrees!
A couple lessons learned:
Obviously it was hazy, hot, and humid today.......I have a new respect for haze and its ability to hide things developing in the sky or at least delay your understanding of what is going on.
Even if your pretty new at this, your gut feeling is a pretty good resource when looking at a cloud and wondering if it is ODing .
Gust fronts are powerful, fast and a force I never want to reckon with when flying a hang glider. They come quick!!!
Don't let your desire to fly, delay you from doing what you know you should.....break down, pack it up and fly another day.
I know a lot of you are probably thinking, "what an idiot for going out on a hot, hazy, humid day like today...what did he think was going to happen"
and to be honest I don't have much of a sensible response to that. Only this: I REALLY wanted to fly today. The wind direction looked good, the thermal forecast was nice and I had a wonderful girlfriend ready and willing to drive
So I started off REALLY wanting to fly..............But I ended up REALLY happy that I now have first hand, in the flesh experience with this......I am reading Pagens books but it seems a much more thorough and sticking lesson when you live it and see it for yourself. I think going out to a site and seeing what the conditions are and how they develop is a wonderful thing..........well a close second anyway if you don't get to fly Sorry for the novel...wish it was a story of soaring at cloud base
Jon
Re: Pulpit Friday 7-22??
an old trick I used to use jon was turn on the am radio and listen for cracklin on the radio ...usually that signals lightning ..it is a tool to add to the assortment of other stuff.. taking a small lap top so you can see the local radar report wouldnt hurt either..but on days like these u have to fly with alot of care..Rich
Re: Pulpit Friday 7-22??
Hey Jon
Sorry it didn't work out - glad you weren't roasting on launch!
Karen
Sorry it didn't work out - glad you weren't roasting on launch!
Karen
Karen Carra