Spring Has Sprung?

This is the earliest start to a season I have experienced.

After we had the "Wet", July, and then the "Cold", early August, we got light winds and a sunny day with the prospect of some good XC conditions developing.

It seemed everyone had the same idea, and at launch we had about ten pilots rigging up and then launching.

Jeff RIpley was the first to launch, managing to gain for a while, then heading out front only to return low, slope landing at the bottom of the hill he managed to climb back up and launch again to go over the back and all the way to Leigh. The best of the day.

The rest of us fluffed around launch for a while, some managing to claw enough height to go over the back, albeit for only short distances.

I couldn't crack 2000 feet, and having launched with a tangled speed system, decided to stay at the Hill for some thermalling practice, landing at the Short Distance Goal Paddock after an hour or so.

Trisha had stayed home and some time was spent getting back to the car park. Still a very nice start for the Season.
Leonardo Flight Link

Comments

Better at Walking Than Flying?

The sacrifices I make for the greater good. The forecast was pretty good regarding the usual parameters. But a couple of indicators weren't that great. First, the wind was expected to be more westerly than wanted and, a new one of interest, was that on the Skew-T Plot (the vertical X-section of the atmosphere) the gap between the Blue (dew-point Temperature) and Red (air Temperature) lines was unusually large and grew bigger as the day progressed. In simple terms, "no clouds". And this turned out to be the case. Andy was the only one at the turnoff, so he lept into the car and we proceeded to the end of the road. Out at launch conditions looked perfect, nice back-ground breeze with good, but not strong cycles coming up the hill from the SW. The wind already had a Westerly tilt. But in hind-sight the main indicator was already there. Very few clouds, and what there was were small and not well formed. As we prepared to launch a couple of nice clouds did form out ...

Don't Climb The Hill

Forecast was good, and it pulled quite a few pilots to the hill. I was the last to launch, while most were climbing out and the rest were sinking out. What was initially a good launch into lift quickly turned into a coulpe of quick passes across the face while gradually sinking below the ridge, finally landing short in the paddock across the road from the Bomb-out. A decision was made to climb the hill (fool) in the hope of a late launch, and after about an hour I was back on top keen to go. But after time to cool down and reassess I walked out to car park, and that was that. Leonardo Flight Link The Climb - Google Earth

I'm Not The Only One Who Gets It Wrong

It looked possible. Light SE winds possibly swinging SW, so it was worth the trip. By one o'clock there was quite a crowd, Jeff, Kim, John (HG), Xen, Alex, Wayne, Anand, and myself. But it appears no matter how many turn up if it ain't going to happen, it ain't going to happen. The wind was consistently from the Easterly quarter, although light, and the clouds slowly built up and came in from the West. Eventually overdeveloping, but the Sou-westerly never arrived. Gradually pilots left to other commitments as it became more obvious that it wasn't to be, and the die-hards finally capitulated around three, leaving John the Hangie to linger. The sea-breeze looked like it eventually arrived around five, so I hope John was still there to get a bit of soaring in.

Mission From Moir's

Search This Blog