The XC that almost wasn’t……

It was a high pressure un-motivating day.  Getting to the tow rd  around 3 pm. Some of the local paras had done some training & had some flights already. Wind had been on the L & V side.

A bit of coercion to set up & I was ready. Maya was taking another para tow ahead. She was off & we were shortly after. Finding nothing on the glide back I see Maya getting her first thermal ever! This was good for me as well as I had a thermal marker. Shortly after we were climbing. She did really well. Leaving it around 5000’ asl.

I stayed in it. Drifting about 3 miles topping out at 6800’ asl (highest for the day) Had a NE light wind & was just going to go to the Spangle airport.

After getting a couple miles  from it I was convinced to get some mileage. (Thanks Michele & Jorge) It was late in the day, conditions were soft & the climbs were short (6000’ ish would be it for the rest of the flight)                     But what the hell, why not.

 

Eagle past by me, really cool to see.

Windmills near Oaksdale WA

 

Low & slow climbs I eventually made it about a mile short of the Steptoe LZ. There is a small hill I did not have enough to get over & I saw a great LZ a ways back.

The track log stats

 

 

The 2013 XC season begins!!!

Some conflicted forecasts said it could be bad or just not so good to the south of the tow road. The sky looked fantastic as we set up.

Had a great tow but released in the absolutely worst place if something goes wrong……. well it did, no re-wind. The tow line dropped down onto a line of trees (the only ones on the road) and some old barb wire fence. I cant believe I did that. Jorge had to walk the 1.5 miles down to get the rewind going & finish helping to get the rest of the line out.

40 min later (so sorry guys) Jorge was up. I had pushed down to Rosailia where I found broken & weak lift. The sky didn’t look as good either.

Gave up on the push south & headed east.  Jorge was pushing east also. Into a blue hole end ended up decking it from 7700’ on what was a final glide.

 

Got up in a good thermal at the home site Tekoa & was going to push south in the mtns.

After getting near Tensed gave up on going south. It just wasn’t looking good. Headed NE thinking I could work the mtns & get to St Maries. After getting low(ish) over no mans land I was going to give up on the idea & keep going N (At least there were LZ’s that direction.

Getting nearish Plummer I got a climb that was good enough to get me to St Maries. And so I went.

Hell of a great day! (Thanks Conrad for the retrieve)      Link to the flight

 

Spring is finally here!!!!

A day with a great forecast was well....…… we tried to make the best of it.  Steve launched first & was 75’ over launch quickly. By the time I was finished getting ready he was on the ground in the middle of the field. Said he found a lot of sink.

Waited for it to get better as graupel was falling. Accepted that it would probably be only a sled ride.  Struggled for awhile & was able to stay up long enough for it to better. The better it got however, the more graupel fell. Was ready for the sky to fall on me as it looked quite ominous. It stayed very civilized.  Had a few 700-1000 fpm climbs. Temp at 6000' was forecast 17°, it was very bit of that + the wind chill. Managed not to pile in with a no wind landing. Glad I was able to still move :- )