The slot was a disaster even though we had been told it wasn't too bad. So I broke out the weed whacker and Karen got the loppers--Krista joined us using a machete. We cleared a better running path. However, the slots needs another major work party.
George, Ben Brooks, Alex, and P2 Karl returned to launch as Peter hit the road for home. There were some OK cycles and people started to launch again. Alex got above launch for a little while and then hooked a thermal out in the valley that extended his flight. Everyone however soon succumbed to gravity. I launched after Carl landed and hugged the ridge playing "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" mostly below the ridge all the way to the south. I finally got up where the ridge bends to the south for a 45 minute flight-- mostly scratching at, below, and a couple hundred over-- landed in a field near the turn off adjacent the Turnpike. Karl gave me a ride back up.
George had relaunched and gotten up for a little while, as did Karen. Krista was over launch and Alex launched as we arrived- -easily getting up. Tom C. had hitchhiked back to launch and was ready to fly again. Karl went for his third try but failed to get into the lift band. I went next and had a wonderful 2.5 hour flight-- mostly with Tom and Krista- -flying up and down the ridge multiple times and way out in the valley. I had a great view looking down at the top of Tom's glider for most of the flight. Alex landed out near the rest stop near the turnpike soon after I launched. Not sure why. A few others -- George, Ben Brooks and Karl-- gave it another go; but oddly could not get above launch and sunk out in what I assumed to be magic air. It was just a weird situation that you couldn't stay up if you didn't get up.
There was too much lift to top land. So Krista, Tom and I decided to landed near the turnpike to make retrieval easier upon Ton's prompting. I wanted to land in the field I had alighted previously. But Tom suggested that I land in a field across from the turnpike. The fields there looked awful to me. One was freshly turned over dirt and the other ones were bounded by all of these power lines. But I deferred to Tom. Anyway, the fields sucked. I landed in this narrow power lined field down below the road with high grass. I think Tom may have been trying to kill me for being above him for so long
I radioed to Krista to pick another field and she and Tom landed near where I had for my first flight.
Matthew
