Sunday, June 24 2007 Padgem, then Bristol
I brought Dana and my Sting to the training hill this morning. Mark had plans at the FLAP all day so I loaded for a flight at Bristol too. Dana did awesome with the glider- 3 flights from the top, a few turns, and pretty perfect landings. It was great to see her really getting it and adjusting to the new-to-her glider. I will take it to Vermont with the rest of her stuff so she can maybe get a crack at Morningside this summer. Padgem is closed now (the corn is chin high!!!!- what's up with that???!!!) so she will be leaving Friday. Anyhow, she really did well there and then helped me carry my gear into Bristol. Two PGs were in the air when we got there, but Florian had landed and Mukrim was scratching, so I thought it was going to be a sledder at best for me. Ron and Bob were there and when Bob got high after launching, so did my hopes of a good flight. Mukrim had a couple of impressive low saves before he landed and Florian launched before me. He was just over launch and it got so light, I just waited. We had each other on the radio, so when he would go out of sight, I could ask how he was doing. Finally he said he was climbing and there was a little air coming into launch. I ran hard but still got a little low before leaving the slot. I was below launch after a short time, and thinking I was toast. I few times I could get a full 360 in lift, but then it would disappear and dump me. Florian was boating just over launch, making it look easy, so I headed nearer to him and finally hit something solid below the old launch. I hung on to this little bullet, got above the ridge, and saw Florian really gaining over the tower. I pushed into the valley a little and got a better core and worked my way up to him. Pretty soon we were at 4K over and I don't think I have ever been that high over Bristol. I saw all the boats on Canandaigua lake, and even started to see Honeoye Lake. Pretty soon, Florain cut loose and headed across the lake, but I had other plans. There is this really great maze north of the thruway- fun to solve from above it in the air- and even thought it was a cross wind trip, I thought it might be worth it. Way high over the Bristol launch(well, now I was over Canandaigua lake), I headed north. The climbs were pretty good at times, base was cold. When I started to push NW, to stay upwind of my courseline, things got drier and lighter. But the climbs were still there, and I made my way- slowly like the tortoise that I am. I talked a bit to Florian, he was across the lake and landing. When I was high over Pactiv (where Mark works), Florian said he was in Middlesex and to tell Mukrim to come get him on rte 245. I had no way to communicate with anyone until I was on the ground, and Dana had all my wraps, but I told him I would do what I could when I landed. I got hung up a long time over the Canandaigua airport, and saw that the day was going to be over before I got a chance to solve this years' maze. But once I was over the racetrack and crossed the Thruway, I knew at least I would be close. Then I hear a voice, "hey, SkyQueen, you out there?" and it's Mark and I was so excited to hear from someone- now I could relay the message about Florian to Dana, and just let Dana know to drive north. It's just after 5pm now, and I am pretty low. The air is bouyant, but the clouds are very rare, and I think I have the Macedon water tower on glide, but I go and search for a climb. Lon comes on the radio (he's at FLAP doing his first solo tow) and he cheers me on. But I am too low and I don't want to blow this flight with a shitty landing. The fields are few and I decided to land back a ways by Rte 31 so Dana could get me easily. The fields by the tower looked hard to drive to, and tough to land in. I could see there was no flying activity then at the flight park, so I could at least get help from Mark maybe if I needed it. I had a great field picked out and set up a really sweet landing. A 30yd walk off the soybeans to a mowed lawn to break down...Pretty awesome flight- best one I ever had from Bristol. It wasn't wicked far or anything, just to Macedon, but it was truly cross wind, and I did it alone. Dana and Ron appeared as if by magic and got me home by 6:30. I'll get my track log into Google Earth and post it tomorrow. I'm still pretty stoked and my back is feeling just fine.
Airtime: 2:30
Max A2: 4700' above launch
Miles: don't know yet- like 25 or so
I brought Dana and my Sting to the training hill this morning. Mark had plans at the FLAP all day so I loaded for a flight at Bristol too. Dana did awesome with the glider- 3 flights from the top, a few turns, and pretty perfect landings. It was great to see her really getting it and adjusting to the new-to-her glider. I will take it to Vermont with the rest of her stuff so she can maybe get a crack at Morningside this summer. Padgem is closed now (the corn is chin high!!!!- what's up with that???!!!) so she will be leaving Friday. Anyhow, she really did well there and then helped me carry my gear into Bristol. Two PGs were in the air when we got there, but Florian had landed and Mukrim was scratching, so I thought it was going to be a sledder at best for me. Ron and Bob were there and when Bob got high after launching, so did my hopes of a good flight. Mukrim had a couple of impressive low saves before he landed and Florian launched before me. He was just over launch and it got so light, I just waited. We had each other on the radio, so when he would go out of sight, I could ask how he was doing. Finally he said he was climbing and there was a little air coming into launch. I ran hard but still got a little low before leaving the slot. I was below launch after a short time, and thinking I was toast. I few times I could get a full 360 in lift, but then it would disappear and dump me. Florian was boating just over launch, making it look easy, so I headed nearer to him and finally hit something solid below the old launch. I hung on to this little bullet, got above the ridge, and saw Florian really gaining over the tower. I pushed into the valley a little and got a better core and worked my way up to him. Pretty soon we were at 4K over and I don't think I have ever been that high over Bristol. I saw all the boats on Canandaigua lake, and even started to see Honeoye Lake. Pretty soon, Florain cut loose and headed across the lake, but I had other plans. There is this really great maze north of the thruway- fun to solve from above it in the air- and even thought it was a cross wind trip, I thought it might be worth it. Way high over the Bristol launch(well, now I was over Canandaigua lake), I headed north. The climbs were pretty good at times, base was cold. When I started to push NW, to stay upwind of my courseline, things got drier and lighter. But the climbs were still there, and I made my way- slowly like the tortoise that I am. I talked a bit to Florian, he was across the lake and landing. When I was high over Pactiv (where Mark works), Florian said he was in Middlesex and to tell Mukrim to come get him on rte 245. I had no way to communicate with anyone until I was on the ground, and Dana had all my wraps, but I told him I would do what I could when I landed. I got hung up a long time over the Canandaigua airport, and saw that the day was going to be over before I got a chance to solve this years' maze. But once I was over the racetrack and crossed the Thruway, I knew at least I would be close. Then I hear a voice, "hey, SkyQueen, you out there?" and it's Mark and I was so excited to hear from someone- now I could relay the message about Florian to Dana, and just let Dana know to drive north. It's just after 5pm now, and I am pretty low. The air is bouyant, but the clouds are very rare, and I think I have the Macedon water tower on glide, but I go and search for a climb. Lon comes on the radio (he's at FLAP doing his first solo tow) and he cheers me on. But I am too low and I don't want to blow this flight with a shitty landing. The fields are few and I decided to land back a ways by Rte 31 so Dana could get me easily. The fields by the tower looked hard to drive to, and tough to land in. I could see there was no flying activity then at the flight park, so I could at least get help from Mark maybe if I needed it. I had a great field picked out and set up a really sweet landing. A 30yd walk off the soybeans to a mowed lawn to break down...Pretty awesome flight- best one I ever had from Bristol. It wasn't wicked far or anything, just to Macedon, but it was truly cross wind, and I did it alone. Dana and Ron appeared as if by magic and got me home by 6:30. I'll get my track log into Google Earth and post it tomorrow. I'm still pretty stoked and my back is feeling just fine.
Airtime: 2:30
Max A2: 4700' above launch
Miles: don't know yet- like 25 or so
posted by Linda Salamone at
Sunday, June 24, 2007
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