Dickey's Friday May 2

[Joe Schad]

There is potential that Friday might finally be a good day at Dickey's.

Joe

[jmcclave]

Joe,

I am interested in going.

Jim

[Joe Schad]

Still looking like Dickey's may be good Friday. Winds shifting more southwest in the afternoon and speeds dropping. I will probably give it a try. Will make a final check in the morning. Noon arrival is my plan.

Joe

[Joe Schad]

Looks very doable today. Lighter forecast than yesterday. Headed there at noon.

Joe

[Joe Schad]

Strange but great day at Dickey Ridge. Arrived to find north west winds in LZ and the sky mostly cloudy not partly cloudy. At launch at noon good cycles 5-10 but lots of west cross and very little sun. I took my time bringing in my gear and watched the winds die to almost nothing under cloud cover. I missed a cycle around 2pm to launch and had to wait till the sun broke thru about 3. I expected a sledder with no birds flying and light winds but was given a gift of some lift by the north overlook which kept getting better as I drifted behind launch. Managed to work my way north trying to get to Winchester but only made it to the east of Stephens City on Rt 340. Maxed out at 7500msl just short of cloud base and got 1:30 flying time. A really nice day for a geezer.

Lazlo and Jim were planning to get to Dickey Ridge between and 3-3:30. I did see a paraglider on launch at 6:30 when I went back to pick up my wind streamer from the LZ. The LZ is nice a green with short grass. It does have 6-8 cows roaming around these days.

I may try Dickey Ridge Saturday. Forecast is lighter and an earlier launch might be a good option.

Joe

[laszlo]

Tom, Jim, and I arrived at 4 pm. By the time we set up, a big cloud settled in above us and everything shut down. Waited an hour for a gap to show up in the cloud. Tom launched first, and beamed up. I launched next, found a thermal over the lookout on the right, and went after Tom. Flew for less than an hour, max height 1850m ( left the thermal before cloud base because Tom kept pointing out low flying jets while we waited to launch), landing just before Flint Hill next to route 522, after 6 pm. Thanks to Joe for the status reports from launch, to Jim for helping to launch, and to Jacob for picking me up after I landed and giving a ride back to my car.

Laszlo