HP sledders NOT

The forecast did not look great but it looked ridge soarable and people were posting that they were headed that way so I piled my stuff in the truck and hit the road about 10am. I was surprised that no one was up and soaring the ridge when I broke over the hill from Mitchelsville but even more surprised after meeting Moritz at the gate that there was no one up top. We walked up to launch and other than an occasional W cross it was blowing straight in at 10 - 12 MPH, nice. We quickly rigged and Bob Grant, Jeff, Matt and Dave Stookey rolled in. Moritz was off first and quickly gained a few hundred over, Bob and Jeff were next and I ran off next. Ridge lift to 5-600 over and thermals made it a little textured but still comfortable. It ramped up to the high teens as Dave got off and we all got as much air as we wanted. The lift got strong at cloudbase and I had to run out from under a cloud once but mostly it was quite pleasant. I got down to a couple hundred over and was watching some OD moving towards us so when I found another thermal I cranked it and banked it and drifted with it till I was over the LZ on top and burned altitude to a no stepper at the back of the field.
Karl, Katrin, Doug, Marlin and Freddie showed up from Harris and rigged and were all sharing the ridge with Matt in what looked like sweet air as I left for home. All flew with no sledders.

1flight
1hr 5min
2000' over
+837fpm
-913fpm
fun factor 7

Hammondsport 8-5-09

The forecast was for NW 6mph, 600fpm and blue. It was not far off except for the 600fpm, it was soft due to the rain the night before and periodically cool breezes blowing through. Herb and Lon were there when I got there and it was a little W cross but launchable. I rigged the glider and waited for a little stronger conditions as the high cirrus drifted SE and the valley started to cook. Herb launched first and had a nice climb right off but slowly settled into scratching a couple hundred over. Occasionally he would climb higher and he played around for the better part of an hour before heading over the knob in back and top landing. Lon went down to pick up Jim and park a vehicle and Jeff showed up and everyone got set up. The cycles were improving and no one wanted to be first so I finally said the heck with it and dove off.
I got over the ridge fairly quickly but only by 50' and made numerous passes before finally falling to a lull and sinking out. Jim went next and immediately got over the ridge and stayed up at least 15min. then came in and had a decent landing in bumpy air and we packed up. Herb, Jeff then Lon launched and all got up in improving conditions or patience waiting for the right cycle and all got 1/2 hr to and hour.
After Lon landed he brought us back up and Jim and I flew again. Jim got a sledder and I waited for a while until it cycled up again and launched into a mini wonder wind. I could only gain 300' on the ridge and had a very small lift band but as I probed out it was all zero sink. I didn't want to miss my ride back up so after a half hour headed down the ridge for the church, lost 60'. Ok fly back up the valley to the bail out LZ, lose 60 more feet. Fly out over the road, down to the hospital, over the church back to the ridge, and still had to burn altitude to land. Great fun.

2 flights
45min.
max gain 300'agl
fun factor: 8

Tumors or growths

I was out with the camera shooting some deer and I got these pics of a deer with Fibroma or Paploma, a viral skin infection. I asked a friend who is a wildlife biologist for the DEC and he said unless they are in a spot that keeps it from eating or inhibits daily life they do no harm to the deer and they eventually truncate and fall off.

Cody, Eammon and I met my parents and niece Mara in Syracuse at the zoo and for lunch and the boys went back with them for the week to go to Salem Mass. Here are a few pictures from the zoo. I am sure Pops' favorites are the ones of the Flamingos, his favorite bird.;o) The ones of the kids snuggling with the lioness are safer than they appear, there was glass between them.

Harris Hill

With a large contingent from the RAF and a good turn out from Free Spirit had 15-20 pilots on the hill and setting up. Ryan was the first off and spent the next hour scratching in turbulent air a few hundred over so not being in a hurry to join him spent the time changing the hang strap on the Eagle so I didn't need any extensions any more. I finished up and looked up to see Ryan and a couple others finally getting high and pilots piling off the hill. The highlights were a fly by from a sail plane at Mach 2 right at ridge height and Jack pulling in, setting up, calmly walking of launch, catching a thermal and going XC all in the space of about 10min.
I had a nice launch and was quickly to a few hundred over and spent the rest of the flight between launch height and 800' over in turbulent air. A couple times I went negative and I got turned a couple times but never had a any wire twangers and after I told myself to quit fighting it and fly the glider all went well. I could never find a coherent thermal that I felt comfortable turning 360's in and not getting drifted to far back and finally got flushed in a lull with a few other pilots and came in for a no step landing down below.
It was nice to see Dave Stookey, Joe and Marlin out and flying and when I left the wonder was kicking in, Marlin was setting up for another flight and Jeff was still in the air after a couple hours. A short flight but I needed it and was able to get home and get groceries and other chores done before dark.

Flights: 1
Airtime: 36 min
Fun Factor: 6

Bristol on Sunday

Brian called and asked if I was available to run a few people off the mountain in the evening. We agreed to meet and arrangements were made to meet with Ron, Carl, Katrin and Lon. I got there as they were already up top and setting up and Andrew went up to join Brian, Mike and Jim. I stayed down with Lon and watches as they all flew with good flights and mostly very good landings. There was a little pilot induced osculation going on and some good decision making on approaches and everyone left with BIG smiles. Congrats to all nicely done.

ECC Review

So the jury is in and the comp is complete and overall I am very happy with the results but wish the conditions had been better. For the second year the conditions were light and this year the tasks were even shorter than last. I would have loved to fly longer each day with fewer blue days and more clouds to work with. I was with open class gliders on the first day and that helped alot to follow and see where they were stopping to turn, or in some cases not finding lift and sinking out, but it seemed most days I was out on my own searching and hoping to run into some lift.
Pictures as promised from the top are: awards banquet and most of the sport class pilots, Teddy, around the bonfire after hours, JD, what the world looked like in the AM with a Margarita haze , the line up and an awesome sky, early morning balloon rides, Roger and Tom at the pilots meeting, Frutiger concentrating on setting the task in his Flytec vario, the meet director David Glover and weather guru Davis Straub, Jim Kolynich setting up, watching a gaggle scratch at 600' had everyones attention, and Ron's domicile for the week with the pilots lounge behind.
The facility is great with lounge, game room, hanger/movie theater, a full kitchen for open use, breakfast and lunch brought in daily for sale from a cullinary school, 4 tugs towing, skydiving and balloon rides available and the greatest group of local pilots around. On the non-flyable days there is plenty to do including tax free shopping in near by Delaware, fishing in the Chesapeak or Atlantic the Capital an hour and a half away and of course the sea food. If you have never spent a couple hours crackin' crabs for lunch or dinner you should give it a try.
I made a few mistakes and never won a day but dispite a lot of confusion the first day and flying by the goal and having to work back up wind to get back to it I was consistant enough to gain the lead on the 4th day and the conditions made it easy to hold it on the last. Roger and Brian were great fun to fly with and hopefully they will be back next year to try

and take it back from me on much longer flights and harder tasks, but one thing is for sure I will go back and fly at the ECC next year. Great fun.
5 flights: 2.5hrs, 42km

EAST COAST CHAMPIONSHIPS

Day 7, Task 5

The day was predicted to be good with 4-500fpm lift and cloud base to 3000', it turned out to be almost completely overcast with 50fpm and and base at less than 2000'. I was in the lead by a small margin so all I had to do was cover a couple pilots close enough to catch me. As it was we all took our sled rides and there were minimum points so I won my first comp. I would have rather lost with a 40 mile flight but I took my sledder and ended up in first. The scores were close and it could have changed easily if we flew. Pictures to come when we get home. Tomorrow Ron gets a shot at XC in Maryland then it is hightail it for home.

ECC Day 4, Task 4

When Davis said we would fly tomorrow on Tues. night I thought he was nuts. I needed a day to repair my glider after taking out a down tube and corner bracket after getting popped on landing after task 3 so maybe it was wish full thinking. Through the help of good friends I was able to get the corner bracket, insert and side wire shipped from my parts stock at home overnight to Maryland. They arrived by 11am as the pilots meeting was finishing up and Ron and I went out and disassembled and reassembled the glider, replaced the parts and down tube then pulled the outside leading edge and inspected the glider. It all checked out so it was rigged and on the flight line and ready by 1pm. Luckily it was almost total overcast and no one wanted to launch. Terry Reynolds and Davis launched and scratched hard to stay up as blue sky moved in from the west Terry came back and Davis took off and flew 10k before sinking out. A bunch of sport class pilots got in line so I went with them to get a tow in mellow conditions so I could check out the glider after the repairs. As I was towed up everyone was sinking out and I decided to search to the NE and see what I could find up yhe course line. I was almost at the point of no return and just taking the glide as far as possible to get minimum points when there was a few beeps on the vario. It took a long time but eventually the weak thermal took me to 2100' and drifted me further down the course. I topped out and went on glide in to the blue found another climb a few miles out and took it to 2500' before it pettered out. The glide was the last of the day for me and I was soon on the ground in a huge cornfield and chatting with a nice old farmer dude who was very friendly and inquisitive of hang gliding. My ace driver Ron was there before I even called him and we broke down under building clouds and gliders flying over. I flew 10k and was just short of where Davis landed.
Not bad for a day I was not even sure I would be able to fly on. Tue. a number of bad decisions but me on the ground with a broken glider and luckily nothing else. With all the huge fields around I tried not to land in a corn field with the farmer baling hay and watching me so I tried to squeeeze into a hay lot between the corn and a pond, got popped as I turned way to close to the ground and ended up in a ground loop as the base bar touched the ground. My butt had an argument with the down tube and I trashed the tube, corner bracket, side wire and insert. Tuck and roll baby, if not I probably would have injured myself and not just some aluminum and plastic. The moral is take the safe landing even if it is witnessed by the farmer, and don't push so hard you put yourself in an unsafe situation.
1 flight, 40 min, 10.3km

EAST COAST CHAMPIONSHIPS

The East Coast Championships:

Day 1: Lots of confusion with equipment and such made the start interesting, finally got in the air and was back on the ground in no time. Towed up wind of the field and lost a lot of altitude getting back I should have taken an other tow but didn't, sunk out and when I got to the river I could not cross so I picked a huge field and landed. I did not even get out of the start circle. 1 flight, 15 min.
Day 2: Much better with no equipment issues and I was ready and calm when the launch line formed. I got into a climb with a bunch of open class pilots and headed down the course. The advantage of being slower is watching the rocket ship pilots spread out and search for lift then I would fly under them and climb up with them, this happened a few times as I watched the leaders slowly drop one at a time and land. Seven turned into six, six turned to five then we came to where our tracks diverged. Unfortunately I had followed them to far and my goal was now a mile and a half back behind me up wind. So I had to work my way back and lost at least 10-15 min. I came in third by 3 min, but was still first at goal. 1 flight, 1hr 15min. 27km
Day 3: I got out early and when I topped out on my first climb headed down the course. I worked the first climb with Mark and a couple other open class pilots but when they went back up wind to stay in the start circle and wait for the start clock I left down wind with out having a start time for sport class and got into one more climb with two other sport class pilots. Then it was nothing but sink till I was on the ground. Had a crappy landing and broke a down tube. 1 flight 34 min, 15km.

I will post some pics when I get home.

They sure are ugly

But they sure can fly. On my way home Friday after work I saw a bunch on Turkey Vultures cleaning the carcass of a road killed deer so I ran home and got the camera. They are beautiful to watch in the air but real ugly close up.

Wild flowers part 2

More shots of the wild flowers and some of the birds at my parents bird feeders.