Wow,
?? big day out there.... lots of familiar faces and a good looking sky.? I arrived late as usual and figured that I may have missed the boat... but it seemed the big dogs were waiting and the brunt of the XC launchers went up around 2 - 2:30.? I got up just before 3pm.? I was supposed to hook up with Ed Balow, our newest XC pilot (Congrats Ed!? I heard about your flight on my drive back... 5x longer than my first XC, nice.? Wish I could have made it back to hear the story), but he had no radio and we were dropped off in different parts of the sky.? I only caught a couple of glimpses of him as he went on glide from quite high about 5 miles downwind (east) of me.?
?? I pinned off early and struggled slowly up to around 3000 - 3500'?? and then it came together nicely.? Saw 600 fpm on the 15sec averager a couple times... climbed to 4800 or so and was off and running downwind and no one else in sight.? The sky was filled with good looking cummies and decent streets, winds aloft were NW at about 12 or so.? Good for a beach run and from the radio, I heard guys making good on that plan with climbs to over 6000'.? I hopped a street to the north that pointed right at the beach and never really struggled until I got there.? Was above 3000' all the way and a couple times got cold at 5500'.? Saw 7.2 on the averager at one point (my personal second best) and had to stop my climb a couple times because I was lightly dressed.? Flew over Milford and hit Slaughter Beach at around 3k.? Actually got out over the water and the cummies were still popping... good climbs out there.? The sea breeze convergence was right at the shore and lots of lift was on tap here... wow!?
? Heard Paul T heading south towards Ocean city and decided I'd better try to get further south.? I was at 31 miles from Ridgely and turned SE and decided to try for Dewey Beach 20 miles SE.? Got low north of Lewnes for the only time and then hooked a good one back to 5000' or so.? On glide and one more good climb north of Rehobeth and I glided into Dewey Beach / Indian Beach at 2500' thawing out.??????? I wanted to come in high to give myself time to discern the winds... a few weeks ago the beach bit me and Paris Williams with the sea breeze.? It was strong NW at altitude but as I got lower I saw the moored boats all pointing SE and then finally a flag showing SE winds on the ground... just like last time.? The sea breeze is pretty reliable I suppose.? I landed over the top of a bunch of people just south of Dewey on Indian beach which is private.? Many folks watched the show and came by to inquire.? As it was a private beach I got a couple beers out of the deal and carried my glider to Rt 1 and the Dewey Beach Club for another Beer or two while waiting for the high priestess of HG to come get me.? Lauren showed up with Mark Cav and we set off for a couple more long retrieves... Ask Lauren about her best "Deer in the headlights" imitation.?
?? Finally back to Ridgely at 1 am and there's still a party going on!? Cool...?? Had a grand day... great lift and my first beach flight.? Special thanks to Paul and Lauren for the pickup again!? The?straight line flight covered was 47 miles?from RDG, my second best and personal best alone!?
Sat Ridgely
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Flying Lobster
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Lauren Tjaden
- Posts: 371
- Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:27 pm
Sat Ridgely
__________________________________________________
Ask Lauren about her best "Deer in the headlights" imitation.??
??
When we picked up Paul (at 10 PM, with a 150 miles already on the odometer!) I wandered out into the field, into the darkness, so I could relieve myself while the boys loaded?Paul's glider. A driver decided to pull out of his drive on the other side of the road at that exact moment, giving them a perfect view of my exposed, white?ass. They thought this was great fun, and turned their headlights to keep me fully illuminated while they honked and yelled. I fell over trying to?drag my shorts back over my butt. It's?not good to try and dress rapidly in a corn field midway through peeing.
On a more serious note, I think Joe Gregor carries smoke bombs. Joe, can you give advice on how you attach them to your glider? Mine (my one lonely smoke bomb) has some velcro on it, but I am not sure if?I would trust it to stay on in flight. I am quite confident in my ability to read wind direction 99 percent of the time, but it seems close to the ocean that the wind often changes direction at an extremely low altitude. I think a smoke bomb might prove useful in this instance. Even Paris was fooled a couple weeks ago.
Not that I have had success getting that close to the ocean yet. Yesterday was another good learning day for me. I am hugely grateful for my many mistakes so I can learn from them and not repeat them (grrrr).
One more note. I think I am getting a Litespeed S 3 glider, which is a brand new size for Moyes to make. I have had a Rotor harness ordered for some time, also, though it is questionable when it will arrive. Kevin Carter is the nicest person in the world and has helped to advise which options are more useful and which are not as important or desireable. Don't worry,?I won't be flying either in Texas. I won't have enough time on them, if they even arrive that quickly. The staff at Highland and then Quest can help me transition into them throughout the winter, and make sure that I stay? flying safely. I already have lots of hours on the Sport, though my only concern is that it is so easy?I don't know if it has been of much value in preparing me for a better glider
Lauren
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Paul Tjaden
- Posts: 398
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Sat Ridgely
First, congratulations to John and Mark for their first land-on-the-sand beach flights. John had a great flight with Paris a couple weeks back but didn't quite make the water. Also, congrats to Ed for his first XC. Nice job Ed.
?
I had a great time chasing down and then flying with Dave Proctor. He launched a bit earlier and got high and went downwind ahead of me but with?my gliders better numbers, I was able to catch up. We easily got to a point just west of Lewes, Del. and had to decide whether to head for the sand or go down the peninsula for more distance. Dave said he wanted the distance so we altered course and started crosswind to the south. Just north of Ocean City Dave got low and landed for a nice flight just short of 50 miles from?Highland (probably quite a bit more with the dogleg).?
?
By this time I had caught up with some high cirrus that was heavily shading the course to the south. Things looked better to the west and I decided to head that way and even considered trying to make it back to Highland but after flying about five miles into the strong upper level winds and checking my watch I decided I had no chance of making it home with the daylight I had left. Dave radioed from the ground to?head to Virginia so I took his advice and continued south. My luck continued, though, because while I was trying to go up wind, the high cirrus cleared and the sky improved ahead of me. My flight south was fairly easy after that until I reached a point around the Virginia border where the peninsula gets really narrow and the marine air blowing in from the Bay shut down the lift. Any convergence area, if there was one, was well out over the sound and I didn't relish the idea of over flying that much water to see if lift existed out there so I went on glide to a landing near a small town called Atlantic. Just before landing I had a close brush (huge understatement) with some controlled air space. I'll tell you more about that later.
?
Landing was good but when I unhooked I noticed I was missing the left half of my horizontal tail fin. I had stuck my landing pretty well so I figured it had come loose then and I went back out where I had landed to pick it up. No such luck. It wasn't there? Then I remembered a strange vibration I had felt about halfway through the flight. It had made the glider seem to flutter and had made me quite nervous for a few minutes and then it stopped and I had forgotten about it after that. Apparently, the tail fin was working itself off of the spar it attaches to and was vibrating until it finally came completely loose. I had checked and tightened it prior to launch but I guess the small carbon and resin pimples that hold it on had popped loose and there was enough stress from the flight to pull it off. Strangely, the glider seemed to fly just fine with half a tail which seems odd due to the fact that the tail is a "flying surface" that is supposed to create at least some lift.
?
The only other negative was the late retrieve due to Lauren picking up our friends strung out along the Atlantic beaches before finding me. It sure was great to see them finally pull up in the dark and see everyone's happy faces. After finding a Pizza Hut open and stuffing our faces and drinking a brew or two we struggled back to Highland Aerosports around 1:00 AM where a few die hard partiers were still hanging out. Didn't get a lot of sleep but it was well worth it. (Except for having to purchase a new tail for my VX!)
?
After downloading my flight to my PC?I found my straight line distance from Highland was 77.3 miles but the OLC (International on line hang gliding contest) scored it as a dog leg with a distance of 99.1 miles.
?
Paul T.
?
?
?
I had a great time chasing down and then flying with Dave Proctor. He launched a bit earlier and got high and went downwind ahead of me but with?my gliders better numbers, I was able to catch up. We easily got to a point just west of Lewes, Del. and had to decide whether to head for the sand or go down the peninsula for more distance. Dave said he wanted the distance so we altered course and started crosswind to the south. Just north of Ocean City Dave got low and landed for a nice flight just short of 50 miles from?Highland (probably quite a bit more with the dogleg).?
?
By this time I had caught up with some high cirrus that was heavily shading the course to the south. Things looked better to the west and I decided to head that way and even considered trying to make it back to Highland but after flying about five miles into the strong upper level winds and checking my watch I decided I had no chance of making it home with the daylight I had left. Dave radioed from the ground to?head to Virginia so I took his advice and continued south. My luck continued, though, because while I was trying to go up wind, the high cirrus cleared and the sky improved ahead of me. My flight south was fairly easy after that until I reached a point around the Virginia border where the peninsula gets really narrow and the marine air blowing in from the Bay shut down the lift. Any convergence area, if there was one, was well out over the sound and I didn't relish the idea of over flying that much water to see if lift existed out there so I went on glide to a landing near a small town called Atlantic. Just before landing I had a close brush (huge understatement) with some controlled air space. I'll tell you more about that later.
?
Landing was good but when I unhooked I noticed I was missing the left half of my horizontal tail fin. I had stuck my landing pretty well so I figured it had come loose then and I went back out where I had landed to pick it up. No such luck. It wasn't there? Then I remembered a strange vibration I had felt about halfway through the flight. It had made the glider seem to flutter and had made me quite nervous for a few minutes and then it stopped and I had forgotten about it after that. Apparently, the tail fin was working itself off of the spar it attaches to and was vibrating until it finally came completely loose. I had checked and tightened it prior to launch but I guess the small carbon and resin pimples that hold it on had popped loose and there was enough stress from the flight to pull it off. Strangely, the glider seemed to fly just fine with half a tail which seems odd due to the fact that the tail is a "flying surface" that is supposed to create at least some lift.
?
The only other negative was the late retrieve due to Lauren picking up our friends strung out along the Atlantic beaches before finding me. It sure was great to see them finally pull up in the dark and see everyone's happy faces. After finding a Pizza Hut open and stuffing our faces and drinking a brew or two we struggled back to Highland Aerosports around 1:00 AM where a few die hard partiers were still hanging out. Didn't get a lot of sleep but it was well worth it. (Except for having to purchase a new tail for my VX!)
?
After downloading my flight to my PC?I found my straight line distance from Highland was 77.3 miles but the OLC (International on line hang gliding contest) scored it as a dog leg with a distance of 99.1 miles.
?
Paul T.
?
?
Re: Sat Ridgely
Thanks Paul. My flight to Lewes was a total blast, I'm still grinning about it.Paul Tjaden wrote:First, congratulations to John and Mark for their first land-on-the-sand beach flights. John had a great flight with Paris a couple weeks back but didn't quite make the water. Also, congrats to Ed for his first XC. Nice job Ed.
Will do a write-up, but plan to give Scott first dibs in case he's
looking for newsletter material.
MANY thanks to sky-goddess Lauren for being willing to swing east
to include myself and John in what was a very long retrieve. I hope
that the camaraderie of happy pilots helped make up in some small
way for the inconvenience to both her and Paul. We really had fun at
dinner and on the drive back: many laughs made the trip a lot shorter.
An exciting and full day that I will always remember!
--mark