Flying this week-end?

[FlyingFelix]

Looks OK for now for Woodstock on Friday, perhaps Pulpit on Saturday...then Ridgely for Sunday - a week-end of flying!
Anyone going?

[W89rnr]

I'm planning on heading to Woodstock early on Friday, the forecast has picked up quite a bit, we'll see how the Woodstock effect will work Friday. I'm meeting up hopefully with one of my fellow friends from Pittsburgh headed down to the annual KHK instructor fly-in that is Monday and Tuesday coming up. My plan is to show up either late Thursday night or early Friday morning to be ready for may early flight/late flight and bailing mid day if it's strong (sorta classic pulpit day but further south) I'll be staying around on sunday as well, may consider traveling to pulpit if it's better, don't quite know yet. I'm excited, hope the weather holds (right now I'm eying a pretty good gust differential, but maybe it will subside, who knows?). PM me if you would like my number to coordinate maybe a car at the LZ.

[FlyingFelix]

PM sent.
Hope the weather will hold and allow us some great flying.

[sailin]

I'll be heading to Woodstock Friday (and probably Saturday too). ETA around noon. See you there.

Jon

[FlyingFelix]

Wow, actually Saturday looks very nice for Woodstock! Tomorrow is holding up as well. Hmmm...perhaps stay over night? That would be great...I'm going to have to plan on that. Anyone know a good (close) place to stay at?
Hope to see lots of pilots around...the more the merrier!

[W89rnr]

I'm staying till Monday actually, and I camp at launch, so I don't know of many places to stay in town.

[FlyingFelix]

Camp? Too cold for me, I'd have to carry to many things...I'm too lazy...
I got me a room in Strasburg, I'll be there tomorrow and Saturday.
Should be fun!

[FlyingFelix]

Had a great flight today. Nice flying with Alex and Paul, sorry Jon missed the window of opportunity and got too nasty to launch.
I gotta say, I love playing with strong ridge lift and ...rotors Nothing too crazy and unsafe but... it's like training. Makes you work a little, do a little sport. Of course it made my body feel new, rather unpleasant feelings and I am now very tired - but it was well worth it.
I broke a personal height record, up to 5900' MSL, almost cloud-base for today - Alex got to play a little at cloud base around 6200-6300'. (Nice flying Alex, looking good up there!)
A great day and it's looking even better tomorrow!
Cold beer and some free hotel time to review the videos is great as well.
Love this sport! It's most definitely much more than a "just" sport.

[FlyingFelix]

My favorite picture of the day.
Sorry for the bad quality, it's a screen shot of a still from the video.

[markc]

Heading to WS today.... Unfortunately I'll have to be headed back by 2pm because of a commitment, so I'm hoping that I can leave my vehicle in the LZ. If any early flyers want to rendezvous there, give me a call : 301 807 5414 . Thanks!

MarkC

[kcarra]

Ugghhh!!!! Got chores to do and can only fly one day-- Woodstock today or Pulpit tomorrow?

Anyone else heading to WS today????


Matthew

[FlyingFelix]

I know of at least 5 pilots to be at Woodstock today (this morning).
It's a little bit cloudy right now, hopefully it'll get sunny soon, the forecast calls for partly cloudy skies but seems like pretty good flyable day.

[DanTuck]

I'm going to WS today, ETA 11:00.
But I'm also going to Pulpit tomorrow. Screw the chores!!

[rlweber]

The bridge field has been harvested. I also intend to give Woodstock a try. ETA to be determined.

Randy

[sailin]

DNF yesterday.......by the time I was there and set up conditions were not fun/safe. Was happy to be on the ground and thankful to see the pilots that did launch earlier get back to the earth without incident......well if you don't include pucker factor as incident that is. Gonna stop by this afternoon and maybe try for a late day/evening flight.

Jon

[heaviek]

I was going to come out but the sounding agrees with the sky. Way too windy for my style. Jon, crossing my fingers it settles down for you later.

Kev

[Greg]

Weather still looks good for Woodstock Sunday, anybody else going? Showing 9mph avg from 320 (NW) mid-day. Pulpit certainly a player as well...
Cheers,
Greg

[DanTuck]

Well, thanks to Mark's sacrificial break-down up top due to time constraints, we had a great day! It was a wave day for sure. When I first got there it was blowing hard, typical Woodstock freight trains pretty often. After getting Mark's truck from the LZ, it had gotten a lot mellower at launch. I took off around 1:30, and had no trouble climbing to 4K msl but it took awhile to find a ride to cloudbase. I was on my toes, aware of the wave, but it never got too strong to manage. 850 fpm on the 10 sec avg, definitely wave but still easy to dive out of. Base was at 4,900' msl but Alex and I got above in front of the clouds to 5,100'. I thought of Janni a few years back on a day like today. Didn't see any angels up there but it was quite heavenly! Flew out to Rt 11 in a very smooth 12-17 mph headwind (yeah it took awhile) to warm up but I was chilled to the bone so I headed in to the primary for a nice landing. Everyone was still soaring when I was done packing up, hope everyone had great flights. Pulpit tomorrow....

[FlyingFelix]

Cool flying with several other gliders today (I counted 7 in the air at one point, could of been more).
Lots of great flights all around.
Hang gliding is the best.

[W89rnr]

Awesome flying day, feel bad for those that didn't brave the cold to get out here. I was first to launch off the mountain and enjoyed the ridge to myself for a bit, then eventually was joined by 7 pilots throughout the day as we cruised up and down the range, as well as up and down from cloudbase (or above!) this was my first weekend soaring Woodstock in my new U2, and it felt oh so right!! I was fortunate to soar with my friends, thermal opposite bald eagles, and enjoy the son-capped vista of the Shenandoah valley. To me, this is what fall flying is all about! The only downside to t flight was not accounting for the gradient and flaring to little too late in light winds on the ground and running out my landing to a whack (dirty nosecone and a bruised ego were the only injuries). Pizza and beer after a long breakdown process of rides up to the top and back was much needed and we got to enjoy the company of some KHK pilots that are up early for the annual fly in Monday and Tuesday. May fly WS again today, currently cold and light at launch, may wait for the valley to hear up and launch in some afternoon cycles, safe flying everybody!!

[sailin]

Turned out to be a fun late afternoon flight. Arrived at 2pm to find quite a few pilots in the air (big thanks to MarkC for his sacrifice to the wind gods!!!) and very reasonable conditions on launch.
I quickly set up and was in the slot to launch right around 3pm. Probably the coolest part of the day was that Amy's Dad was there and he got a taste of the Woodstock hang gliding experience. He was super stoked by the whole thing. Launched into a pretty smooth cycle and had no trouble getting up. Maxed out at just under 4000msl which was chilly enough. Seemed like a mix of some thermal and wave stuff going on. Ended up landing in the Bridge Field after a fun flight, (mostly staying in the fishbowl, and a little out in the valley).
Capped the day off with some Mexican food and a beer in Strasburg with Amy and her Dad. We had some good hang gliding conversation as her Dad was still stoked about the whole thing.
Big thanks to Amy and her Dad for helping with launch and cars.

Jon