Ridgely 7/26

[silverwings]

The forecast looks promising for flying there. I am going to give it a try.

[jimsmess]

I am heading to Highland for the Challenge , hope to arrive mid to late afternoon and catch a happy hour flight on Friday..
Jim Messina

[Rich E]

Am also going - look forward to seeing you out there

Cheers

Rich

[Ward Odenwald]

Forecasts are suggesting a better than average day at Highland. ETA: 11

Ward

[jimsmess]

Arrived around 4 pm ,gliders in the air and on tow. set up camper and glider rather quickly, took a nice flight around 5 pm , had a few gentle climbs to 3k did a few fast glides , came in for a really cool landing [ just ask Ward] then hung out with the crew for happy 3- 4 hour Sat looks good come on out
Jim M

[Ward Odenwald]

It was a good day at Ridgely. The morning forecasts were accurate and by 12:30 the clouds looked great. Jim Rooney towed me up at 1:15 and shortly after leaving the air park Jim entered a thermal that left me struggling to climb at his rate but that quickly reversed when he exited the thermal. As I watched Jim sink out, I was now trying to dive down to his level while listening to my vario scream. The weak link snapped within seconds leaving me with two options: return to the field and try again or search for the thermal that triggered the break. As I turned back to the field, I saw John Middleton circling close to where I lost Jim. Without John’s help, I would have most likely been on the ground in minutes. After the first climb that took me above 4 K MSL just south of the field, I headed south passing just east of Denton. Flying fast through the down air and slowing up for zero sink, I was able to find three additional thermals that each took me above 3K MSL. After leaving the last thermal near Federalsberg MD, I flew into a large area of down air that drove me down to an altitude that triggered my mental alarm of “find a LZ NOW” so I picked out a recently harvested field next to rt 404. I got back to Ridgely just in time to watch Jim M make a text book no wind landing flying his LightSpeed. It was one of the softest returns to earth that I’ve witnessed. Here are some photos of my tow and 12 mile flight to Federalsberg. Ward

[Ward Odenwald]

Next set of five.

[Ward Odenwald]

Last set of five.