More discussion would be nice
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 3:59 pm
Since this whole topic has been dead for so long (and work is slow), I'm posting some very mundane information for the hell of it. I think it would be good if people would post more routine reports here, if only to let people know how conditions have been. Evidently everyone is waiting until they break a record before they consider it worthy.
Last Saturday was actually pretty good, if you were lucky. Dennis launched around noon I think in his paraglider and went right up. Didn't take long before he was heading to West Towers high. I waited for the 2 tandems to go, and then when they didn't soar much at all and landed quickly, I thought maybe things had flattened out so I didn't launch and waited for it to heat up some more. Then around 1 I noticed Dennis' paraglider coming back high again and realized I was being dumb. Never give much credence to a tandem, they're at work.
I launched and got up easily, eventually getting over 5100. Conditions seemed so good and I had the altitude so I figured I had to go East, old man. I got there OK but struggled down the whole ridge, not getting enough to climb out and eventually threw in the towel to land in the wash. I'd never landed the Gecko in there so it was worth it just for that. Usually I do the left hand approach over the wires but this time thought I'd try the RH approach, wrapped around Jonesey's tree and had a nice landing about a third of the way down the runway. The surface was nice there, better than at the far end, so I thought I'd pass on the word that the wash is quite landable these days, no real obstacles but best if you stay near the east end.
Packing up I watched Dennis fly overhead on his way to Lukens to rub it in. He never returned though, must have had an Uber retrieve. I was caught in the same odd mid-day flush that everyone back in the LZ was griping about. Later it turned on again for awhile, oddly enough.
Last Saturday was actually pretty good, if you were lucky. Dennis launched around noon I think in his paraglider and went right up. Didn't take long before he was heading to West Towers high. I waited for the 2 tandems to go, and then when they didn't soar much at all and landed quickly, I thought maybe things had flattened out so I didn't launch and waited for it to heat up some more. Then around 1 I noticed Dennis' paraglider coming back high again and realized I was being dumb. Never give much credence to a tandem, they're at work.
I launched and got up easily, eventually getting over 5100. Conditions seemed so good and I had the altitude so I figured I had to go East, old man. I got there OK but struggled down the whole ridge, not getting enough to climb out and eventually threw in the towel to land in the wash. I'd never landed the Gecko in there so it was worth it just for that. Usually I do the left hand approach over the wires but this time thought I'd try the RH approach, wrapped around Jonesey's tree and had a nice landing about a third of the way down the runway. The surface was nice there, better than at the far end, so I thought I'd pass on the word that the wash is quite landable these days, no real obstacles but best if you stay near the east end.
Packing up I watched Dennis fly overhead on his way to Lukens to rub it in. He never returned though, must have had an Uber retrieve. I was caught in the same odd mid-day flush that everyone back in the LZ was griping about. Later it turned on again for awhile, oddly enough.