Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Pulpit - 4-18-09

What a fun day at the Pulpit on Saturday. There were only four of us there early and I launched first at about 11:30 I think. It was coming in nice and there were thermals popping off already. As usual it was strong on launch because of a venturi off to the right and much lighter down the ridge. That's the downside of a Falcon at the Pulpit. You've got to get off before it's too strong but it's likely to be very light as soon as you get away from the ramps. The forecast wasn't very strong and we knew it would be a thermal day anyway but this site can get blown out very easily so I took the chance. Down the ridge a little, over a rock pile, I managed to get about 300' over in a light, disorganized thermal. I lost it, couldn't find another, and ended up landing in the secondary after 20 minutes. A very good pilot had launched when I was still doing okay but he was scratching low when I landed. I was thinking that I've really got to stop sucking at this when he sank out and landed also. Then I didn't feel so bad. I noticed that no one else had launched after that second pilot and that was because it had really turned off. Shawn came and picked me up and took me up for a re-light. I didn't set up again right away and helped crew for people for awhile. I waited until about 3:30 to launch again and found lots of thermal lift on the ridge but they were small and difficult to stay in. It was kind of hard to get up and I spent 30 minutes between 200' and 600' over the ridge. There was a variety of thermals out there. Some were small, some big, some mellow, some with pretty sharp edges. Finally I found a huge one that I took up to 2,300' over launch. It was drifting over the back and I really considered going with it. See, earlier I had been looking at a relief map belonging to a pilot planning to go XC. So after talking with him and another XC god, I had 2K'-over floating around in my mind along with Mountain View Elementary and Buchanan High, if I could make it. I had the altitude but being up there and looking East I really didn't know much of what I was looking at. At this point I was kicking myself for not scoping out the valley on google maps. So I tried to look for some landmarks I might recognize to get my bearings. I found the fish hatchery which I know is on 75, same as the Elementary School. And from there I know where the High School is. So far so good. But then I noticed another fish hatchery not far to the South and I realized that I didn't know which was the one on 75. I tried to follow the roads from the mountain but I wasn't that high to get a real good perspective. Hmmmm. On top of that I'd forgotten my radio at home and my cell battery was low. The final straw was that I would have been alone, no one to follow, or follow me, for my first XC so I decided not to go. Ah well, soon enough, soon enough. I landed after 1:15 in the secondary again. And once again Shawn, who made this entire day possible for a lot of us, picked me up and took me back up to my car. You are the man, thank you. Fantastic day!
Video - http://www.vimeo.com/4231812

Monday, April 13, 2009

Spring Flying at Woodstock, 4-11-09

I got up early Saturday morning and got back on the road (I know, what can I say, I'm a junkie) arriving in the LZ around 2:30 to weird, switchy winds in the field. With the solid overcast, it didn't look too promising but then it began to break up and I saw one of the two HG's on launch take off and get up which was encouraging. On the way up top the second one launched and got up also. Once up top it was coming in pretty nice, mostly cross from the right but still way better than Thursday. I launched fourth into 7 or 8 mph STFI and got up right away. It was definitely spring out there. I encountered very smooth air at times but then quite turbulent stuff at other times. There were lots of large birds out, I saw one bald eagle way down low. It was a nice flight until finally a turbulent and very strong sink cycle came through and flushed me from 700' over. My little vario was giving me some very strange tones and was reading 600-700 fpm down. There had been nothing like that all day so I scooted on out to the LZ. I set up a nice approach and stuck the landing. All told I got 1:25 and 1,300' over. It was a great day and it was really nice to get back up to Woodstock. I love that mountain. Enjoy the video. http://www.vimeo.com/4125732

Woodstock, finally

This whole living in Charlotte thing has really been getting in the way of my flying but finally, after 7 weeks bound to the earth, I made my escape. Thursday actually looked pretty good and my H1 & 2 instructor posted that he was taking a couple of fresh new mounatin pilots out for their first ones. One of them I trained with and the other I'd met from going out to the training hill recently. I wanted to be there to share their experience and get it on tape for them, so I played hooky and made the 5 hour trek north. The forecast was a little cross but the strength was good and there was to be plenty of sun and thermal activity. But if you know Woodstock, you've probably heard of the Woodstock Effect. Because of the surrounding topography, the wind on top of the mountain is often much lighter than in the valley. And Thursday was no exception with maybe 2-5 mph coming in on launch and all of the cummies were drying up too for some reason. It was good for the new pilots because they didn't have to wait around for the evening but it meant sleds for the rest of us also. Having been 7 weeks since my last flight, I wasn't too upset with the benign conditions. We took our sleds like men and then one of the first timers and I did a second one. Both of the new pilots did very well, congrats guys! It was good to knock the dust off and get ready for Saturday, which had a nicer forecast. It would have been really nice to just grab a hotel room and relax on Friday, save all that driving, but I had to work so I hit the road. Here's video of their first launches: http://www.vimeo.com/4125128