Arrived at Blue Sky late Saturday after driving 1,500 miles for a family funeral (ugh). Wanted to fly, but opted out due to feeling generally drained. Found a moderate crowd there---apparently a few 1-hour flights were had.
Sunday looked great, with cumies popping out of a clear blue sky by noon. Mike Wimmer aerotowed up in 8-10mph north winds (gusting to 12), got dropped off beneath a dark-bottomed whopper and was sucked to cloud base at 5300' for 50 minutes.
I asked Tex how the air was, and he said "Crackin'." I was a little intimidated (still being relatively new to aerotowing) but decided to give it a try---WOW! My first truly rowdy aerotow---the tug was all over the place and I held on hard, but was happy I managed to stay in position well 'til release at 2500'. It was also the first midday tow on my Eagle without the tailfin---and found I didn't miss it at all. No yawing to speak of. (So if I didn't need it for that rowdy tow, I doubt I'll ever need it.)
Alas, I didn't find much in the way of lift and only eked out 25 minutes on one flight and 19 the next. Others towed up with mixed results---Jason and Daniel got around an hour each, but several others of us found nothing but sink. It seemed to be one of those cloud-dependent days---when lift was focused only under the big clouds, and even then only some of them. (But I make no excuses---I'm sure my thermaling skills have plenty of room to grow...)
Monday was a complete bust---nobody flew due to high winds, 12-16 all day with some epic gusts of up to 25-27. It looked great, though! In spite of the lack of flying, we all had a great time relaxing in the cool air throughout the weekend. Lots of good company, laughter, awesome food, steaks on the grill---the usual. Sleeping in the bunkhouse was fantastic---autumn is close!!!
Scott
PS - Passed my H3 written test---woohoo!
Blue Sky weekend report...
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