With today's Fly-To-North-Mountain-Vineyard event, I imagine that there will be pilots who want to give things a try today. I'm thinking of wandering by, though not yet sure if I'll be planning to fly.
Tomorrow also looks like there's a chance of a WStock day: Forecast surface gust-factor drops below 20 by 5:30pm, and it might be a bit more doable than recent weekends.
Any interest out there, for today/tomorrow/both-days?
MarkC
Apr 9th-10th flying options : Woodstock
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
Re: Apr 9th-10th flying options : Woodstock
I will be at launch after noon, waiting for it to back down. Staying overnight at the Comfort Inn in Woodstock. Trying to talk Allan into sticking around. Bari is interested. Others? Bacil
Re: Apr 9th-10th flying options : Woodstock
I'll decide yay/nay based on the 10-ish forecast updates. Leaning 'go' at the moment, with an ETA of 2pm.
Re: Apr 9th-10th flying options : Woodstock
Heading to Woodstock, leaving around noon.
It's definitely a gamble, given the strength of the ADDS 3k forecast. But a slightly better gamble than recent weekends. Maybe we fly, maybe we don't.
It's definitely a gamble, given the strength of the ADDS 3k forecast. But a slightly better gamble than recent weekends. Maybe we fly, maybe we don't.
Re: Apr 9th-10th flying options : Woodstock
The intrepid pilots today included Bacil, Bari, Allan, and myself.
Winds were a bit on the strong side when I arrived at 1:30pm. Hauled in the glider and put it on the basetube... But TBH it was really just a show-of-solidarity.
Conditions mellowed a bit by about 4pm (some decent launchable lulls, between the rowdier cycles), and we got B/B/A into the air. They all chose good conditions, straight out and clean. Bari hit the elevator big-time as he exited the slot, but handled it really well. It seemed like 2k above launch was par for the course, and Bacil and Bari flew down to Waz. peak.
I decided not to fly. Guess I'm getting pretty picky about the fun-factor. Plus, self-launch and/or wuffos... Didn't seem worth it, given that the winds were forecast to go W->SW by the very end of the day.
Wasn't actually at launch by that point, so I can't say if that's what happened or not. But, felt good to be out there regardless!
Winds were a bit on the strong side when I arrived at 1:30pm. Hauled in the glider and put it on the basetube... But TBH it was really just a show-of-solidarity.
Conditions mellowed a bit by about 4pm (some decent launchable lulls, between the rowdier cycles), and we got B/B/A into the air. They all chose good conditions, straight out and clean. Bari hit the elevator big-time as he exited the slot, but handled it really well. It seemed like 2k above launch was par for the course, and Bacil and Bari flew down to Waz. peak.
I decided not to fly. Guess I'm getting pretty picky about the fun-factor. Plus, self-launch and/or wuffos... Didn't seem worth it, given that the winds were forecast to go W->SW by the very end of the day.
Wasn't actually at launch by that point, so I can't say if that's what happened or not. But, felt good to be out there regardless!
Re: Apr 9th-10th flying options : Woodstock
A brief summary of the weekend. Saturday I went straight to launch, meeting up w/ Allan and Bari. I didn't set up; I had my sights on Sunday. Joe Schad, Tom Ceunen, and Rico were the sole PG pilots to show up at launch. Conditions were very unstable, w/ lots of snow shower cells coming and going. Just before 2P a snow shower pelted us at launch. Joe left, Allan launched, and got up to 1200' over. Tom and Rico showed up after Allan launched, quickly got ready, and launched together and got up. Bari executed a strong run and launch and extendoed, landing in between Rico and Tom in the main LZ as conditions shut down. Allan landed last after nearly an hour flight. I drove Allan and Bari back up to launch, then beelined it for the winery.
A nice time was had at the winery, and thanks to all those pilots and their friends who showed up to enjoy the free food, complementary wine, and live music that was provided from 2P to 5P+. I stayed overnight at the Comfort Inn in Woodstock to minimize the driving, aiming for an early arrival the next morning.
Sunday got to launch early along w/ Allan. Mark C. and Bari rounded out the pilot contingent. We waited for the forecasted throttleback after 4P. Nice lulls appeared right on schedule, and I had my best ever launch at Woodstock at 4:08P. Poked a couple times out into the valley, the last poke getting to 4200' MSL just over Rt. 675, the Edinburg Gap Road. I easily could've dove onto the corner of Short Mountain from that position and altitude, but the GPS showed W @ 18 MPH, and I wanted to get back to assist Mark in launching, but it was not to be. Bari landed 1st, and I came in and entered the pattern encountering turbulence. I flew the whole approach very fast, and the top groundspeed I reached on the downwind leg was ~ 62 MPH. I gently wheeled in the landing. Allan wisely landed a half hour later, encountering a relatively docile LZ. Mark chose not to fly, and graciously gave Bari and I body rides back to launch. Thanks Mark! Bacil
A nice time was had at the winery, and thanks to all those pilots and their friends who showed up to enjoy the free food, complementary wine, and live music that was provided from 2P to 5P+. I stayed overnight at the Comfort Inn in Woodstock to minimize the driving, aiming for an early arrival the next morning.
Sunday got to launch early along w/ Allan. Mark C. and Bari rounded out the pilot contingent. We waited for the forecasted throttleback after 4P. Nice lulls appeared right on schedule, and I had my best ever launch at Woodstock at 4:08P. Poked a couple times out into the valley, the last poke getting to 4200' MSL just over Rt. 675, the Edinburg Gap Road. I easily could've dove onto the corner of Short Mountain from that position and altitude, but the GPS showed W @ 18 MPH, and I wanted to get back to assist Mark in launching, but it was not to be. Bari landed 1st, and I came in and entered the pattern encountering turbulence. I flew the whole approach very fast, and the top groundspeed I reached on the downwind leg was ~ 62 MPH. I gently wheeled in the landing. Allan wisely landed a half hour later, encountering a relatively docile LZ. Mark chose not to fly, and graciously gave Bari and I body rides back to launch. Thanks Mark! Bacil