Smithsburg Sunday Jan. 5th

[XCanytime]

[XCanytime]

As good as it gets at Smithsburg tomorrow afternoon. Bacil

[markc]

I should totally be into it, late PM at Smithsburg looks like it could be decent, as of Sat night.

But... Lots of travel over the past two weeks, and can't *quite* get motivated. Guess I'm in hibernation mode

Don't want to discourage anyone else though, could be a great practice day!!!

[XCanytime]

Got to Smithsburg before 11A. Set up the customary windsocks and Hall ASI. Sky was decked over but there was evidence of wave aloft in the few breaks in the cloud deck. Set up and waited for Anthony, the lone pilot joining me. Conditions were not as strong as forecasted, with winds at the top 12 to 18 MPH and straight in. By the time Anthony and I carried my glider up to the top just past 12:30P, the conditions had gotten very strong and cross from the north at times. Big thanks to Anthony for the assistance in keeping the glider from lifting off prematurely. Finally a straight in more moderate cycle occurred and I launched and went straight up about 10' and hung there for a second or two before sinking straight down and tracking almost due SW (from the north cross). Kept the wings level and the speed up but hit a few gradient pockets and came close to doing two touch and goes before another positive gradient at the foot of the hill popped me up about 50' above the ground and reduced the groundspeed to a crawl. Got spat out from that, dropped like a stone, and the groundspeed picked up significantly. Got down to round out and bleed off airspeed and got popped up again, to 10'. Got it down and had a halfway decent landing for the conditions and quickly parked the glider and unhooked. That was enough excitement for one day. Big thanks to Anthony again for helping me carry the glider to the setup area. Anthony wisely waited until 2:30P to set up his Falcon; by that time the conditions had mellowed significantly. Anthony got in 3 flights after 3P, with excellent takeoffs and landings, in conditions that were smooth as silk. We were done by 3:30P, and I was on the road by 4P. The link to the 3D tracklog to the "sporty" flight is below. The low groundspeed to high groundspeed transition at the foot of the hill can be seen. Bacil


https://ayvri.com/scene/z15y60z0jx/ck51 ... 68puz95sj3