We have been flying our butts off here in the northeast for almost a week now. Friday, April 28th was less than the stellar H-port day I was anticipating. I had a 5 minute sledder! I did learn a thing or two about footlaunching my new harness: it aint fun.
Saturday, the 29th was Day 1 of the chute clinic and we got to tow during a midday break. High pressure thermals, climbs to around 4K agl, and a whole bunch of fun in the air. Not every one stuck and Rick blew out his keel with a bad low tow release. I got an hour and Doug won the 'last feet on the ground' award!
Sunday was even better- climbs to just under 5K agl, and almost two hours with lots of pilots who stuck. Dave Perrin, Bob Roth, Jeremy Swerdlow, Dan Spier, Scott Rowe, Mark Frutiger and Joe Schmucker... who else? I'm missing someone.... oh air-pig... Well anyways, it was a blast and I got really cold and flew all over without losing any altitude. Very fun.
Monday, May 1st- I flew alone for an hour before Doug towed up into mostly dead air. When I first got up I climbed to 5700' and couldn't find any sink. I drove all over the sky-I went to Padgem hill and back, never really losing much until I headed back to mess with Doug. His tow was long and straight to the NE and he headed back without turning at all so I knew the day was pretty much done. I of course landed before he did seeing as he IS the air-pig, but today we are both going to try to get up earlier. I towed at like 2:15 yesterday- trying for 1:15 today. I think I was flying in a widespread convergence zone since the upper air was mostly E or SE. And the shift past the Tow Park happened right around 3:15. Lets see what happens today....