Estrogen Fest 2009 aka Women's Fly In at Lookout Mountain, Georgia

I can call this now our "annual excursion" and can say that "the regulars" (me, Katrin, and Caitlin) headed down to Lookout Mountain, Georgia right on schedule Thursday at 4m for the Women's Fly-In. The driving routine worked well: each of us would drive away a tank of gas then rotate positions in the car. We were dragging the oversized pop-up camper so we were getting around 3 hours drive time before refueling. I haven't been able to put 3 whole hours together driving in a long time, but the wicked sciatic pain was what kept me up during my late (early?) shift. By the time we arrived, some 15 hours later, we were wasted enough to crash on the floor of Timothy's cabin for an hour, then set up camp in the Landing- a site with regular water and electric hookups. Getting going was slow. It was already hot and muggy out and the trailer had a couple of issues. But we got it together and went up top to register and get a schedule.

Lots of familiar faces on launch, a few people flying, and Jen ready to get us all checked out with our goody bags and tow tickets. Awesome job on the Tshirts - Caitlin and I were about to buy one off the rack until Jen told us they were included in our fee. Katrin wanted to foot launch in the light southerly crossing wind; Cait and I headed down bottom to just hang out. I had to see about a glider for Matt Calladine so I figured I'd get that taken care of. The seller was going to be home in a few hours so we headed to the pool in the LZ. It was really hot and muggy- it's been so wet there the last few weeks. Erin from last year, and a member of Tom Lanning's Team Aerosnauts doing the Team Challenge was getting wet with us and trading bullshit stories.
I headed to this guy Nate's house later in the afternoon. He had a 155 Sport2 for sale, and I deemed it pretty perfect for Matt. We did the deal and got back in time to do a roundtable discussion with Mikey and Steve and others where Wills Wing came under fire from all the girls (and some guys) for not having more choices for smaller pilots. I wonder where all THAT was coming from??? Dinner by Judy Foods and some open mike stuff made for a pretty rowdy evening.
I got up before dawn and watched the sun rise... well, actually, just the cloud lifted from the valley and then moved back in again- never really saw the sun. During a torrential downpour, Claire tried to do a talk on some issues specific to women and flying, but we had to pull in close to hear over the rain. Even Katrin was grounded for today since the rain never let up until evening, but Sunday's forecast was looking good. A decent band was playing and us three girls spent the night dancing like white girls.
Sunday there was wind when we arose but too much hemming and hawing had us putting the training hill last on the list for Caitlin. Katrin headed up with Timothy for some foot launching and I set about trying to find Stacey who offered me her Sport2 135 since Wills Wing had moved over to Henson's Gap with their demos. I found her and she was willing to let me tow it so I started setting it up. I was going to wait til Caitlin came back from driving Katrin back up after a sledder but they were putting the tow planes away since it was getting towards 1pm and the air was getting really rowdy. Timothy showed up with his Russian friends and said it was blowing too hard to footlaunch. So I had to fly now, or not at all. I considered the variables and the risks... New to me glider, but a kind I have flown before and know to be really easy. Aerotowing which I just did two weeks' prior and found to be no stress on my arm compared to foot launching (changing grip fast and scratching to get up near a ridge). An underwater field that was about to be experiencing lots of variations in wind direction, but huge as anything to land in. Hmmm, what else.. Oh FEAR, lots of it. Mostly irrational but certainly the obviously rowdy tow was a valid source of stress. So I went for it. My tow pilot was briefed on what to do if suddenly my right arm was dangling below my base bar (pin me off!) and then the crew wound us up. I was immediately careening off to the left but just hung on and got some extra speed before coming off the cart. It was all good until 300' agl when my tug pilot and I decided to part ways for a second or two. Then we righted things without breaking the line and it was rock and roll all the way to 800m agl. We had flown through some booming lift and I went back for it. It was stupid easy to get up, and I spent the next hour at 1300m over the field and having a great time with this glider and trying desperately to just forget about the landing for now. It was really cold at altitude and of course I had no gloves on, but I would find some sink, come down a bit to warm up, and then have no trouble getting high again. Every once in a while I would look at the landing field. Each time the windsock was visible, it was 180 degrees from the last inspection. Shit... Nope, not gonna worry about that just yet. After a time my arm was a little sore so I started thinking about when to go land. I saw big huge clouds would cover the LZ at times so I thought if I picked to land after it was shaded over for a bit, I would be unlikely to be landing in the middle of a thermal breaking off down there. So that was my brilliant plan. Of course, I couldn't find any sinking air when I wanted it, and of course 500' off the deck there was NONE AT ALL so I spent a long time hovering and trying to lose that last bit. All the while the sock is showing me its INCREDIBLE range: it can be dead, hard N, hard W, hard SE... dead.. UGH!!!!!! Finally I got low enough where I just had to pick a direction... and of course, it was downwind. Ah well, come in fast, get bounced around while it all switches, then flare hard and a bit earlier than I usually do and... tada! A few running steps and I look like I've been landing downwind all my life. So Caitlin had been watching and she came over while I excused myself to GO PUKE.. nah, not really. But I was pretty adrenalined out. I took some time to gather myself together and headed over to Stacey's to break down her sweet little glider and offer up my first born for letting me fly it. It was only for an hour, but it was so good for me to fly in these circumstances. The Sport2 is such a confidence builder. If I could, I'd run out and buy one tomorrow.
And then it was time to get the tire changed on the trailer (it was flat- dunno when that happened), hitch it to the car, shower, then head on out of there. The wind had picked up a lot, but it looked like the air was getting more glued together as we left. Gliders dotted the sky as we drove out. 15 hours later, at sunrise, we get to my house, sort all the gear, then I head to work, Caitlin to school, and Katrin home for a day off (she's a smart cookie!). Here it is Wednesday and I'm only just now beginning to feel human.
I really hope the next Women's Fly In at Lookout gets a few more pilots. The flooding in the area from weeks of rain just prior to it surely had a lot to do with the turnout. But also, if they hold it every second year, I think it would be better attended. I went more for the socializing than the flying, but wound up getting a great flight in as a bonus. We should have spent more time convincing Caitlin to head to the training hill- conditions there were reportedly very good on Sunday. So lessons learned... next time....
I'll post some pictures later- we only got a few, but I know how much people hate blogs without pics....

A few requests are forcing me to update this page before I have any pics to put up- so I don't want to hear any complaints from the peanut gallery....
Labor Day Weekend- where to go?- So many choices: Ellenville Fun Meet (that's always a blast). Hyner View (haven't had much of THAT place yet). Stay home and do scooter tow and watch people sled with the tow nazi at Longacres (um... NOT). Canada (two places to choose from there)... Hmmm. I let Mark decide since I HAVE A BROKEN ARM- so who cares where I go??? He decided on the place where Ryan and Bellerby and Dowsett can be found most flyable weekends- (Insert name of place here). I thought he was just being sociable so I was surprised to find that it was totally the soaring place to be- NOT exactly a good thing, remember: I HAVE A BROKEN ARM so when we arrived with trailer late Saturday afternoon, I was secretly pleased to find that, like all tow parks, this one was centered right in the middle of a BIG BLUE HOLE. In fact, NUVI let us down, so we just aimed for the middle of the blue and got there just fine, thank you. Mark starts setting up his glider first thing but it's like after 4pm so I'm feeling smug. Daniel Spier and his wife, Mary show up and I figure this could be a good social event. But then Bellerby and Daniel and Mark tow up. AND STAY UP.
The first hour, I was okay. The second one was half over and I was pretty much DONE. The trailer was not set up, nor in a place where I could accomplish that feat. The water tank was not full, the battery was dead. I couldn't find the car keys or unhitch the trailer to ditch to town and get food and supplies. By 6pm I was a LITTLE cranky. By 6:30 I was homicidal. When Mark landed and everyone began the post-flight bullshit I realized something very important: IT SUCKS TO LISTEN TO PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THEIR FLIGHTS WHEN YOU WEREN'T UP THERE WITH THEM. Wives, drivers, sig. others.. I feel for you. But get this: It's WORSE when you know what your missing. I knew the air was like Florida late day- big boaty thermals- or the BBTs as we like to call them. Light lift, warm air, easy to stay up, lots of company.
After Mary and I left for town (very abruptly after the trailer was unhitched) I steeled myself for the campfire chats about the flying, but there wasn't much I could do about that. Mark promised to make getting me in the air on Sunday a priority.
Sunday morning, Ryan scooter towed the big tandem Falcon that was brand spanking new. Mark and I were going to take it for its maiden high flight. So many solos to get in the air first; one tow pilot, one impatient bitch WITH A BROKEN ARM. Late in the afternoon we get a chance to find harnesses that will work with the tandem. Caitlin's Moyes XT-145 is already set up in case things go well.
Our tow is really uneventful, except that Mark wouldn't let me have it. After we got off (at like 440 meters agl ???) I spotted a swirl in some crops and took the glider and maintained a bit. My arm didn't seem to hurt at all and pretty soon I was cranking and banking and climbing and just flying the thing like Mark wasn't even there. When it came time to land after 45 minutes however, I was content to sit back and just freak the f*ck out. But it was fine, we rolled right in, and I ran to get the XT.
My solo tow went fine, no pressure on my arm, but it was so late, I couldn't stay up long, but I shared some zero sink with Bellerby and then went to land. After hearing all the stories about other broken arms re-breaking when flaring, I was praying to whomever would listen that I would land safely. Forgetting that I was flying a lower performing glider almost really bit me though. I set up over the soybeans and found myself very short and just barely made the edge. In fact, one foot was IN the beans, one foot was OUT. I had a rough time with the transition as well- very small control frame- and just too new to me to do it smoothly. I dropped the nose but did no damage to my arm.
Monday I got my stuff ready as soon as the last tandem was gone. Another student materialized while I hooked in but I decided to go first. Mark said it was getting pretty good and the forecast sucked so I figured now or never. My tow was a bit sketchy at first- pretty good cross on launch- but once a little higher it was easy- just slow. I pinned off in what I thought was something, but I had to search and thinking I was going to be practicing my landings sooner rather than later, I cursed my stupidity. But then I did find something to maintain in and eventually climbed to 800m or so, later I saw the tandem get dropped above me and eventually we all got up to base and flew around a bit. By the time I got low again, the tandem was setting up to land, and we had a conflict of approaches. I tried to climb out in something that was lifting off the field, but didn't want to push things, and watched mark land with his passenger. Where he wound up made my LZ much smaller, and as I came onto final, I thought for sure I'd hit him or the tug. Again, my flare was weird and I skidded in but didn't drop the nose. My heart was racing so much that I thought I'd puke- I got myself unhooked and out of the harness and just put my head low until that racy feeling stopped. The whole time I was in the air I had made a conscious effort to forget the landing so I could actually enjoy the flight. But I was really bowled over by how physically wrecked I felt after landing. It wasn't a great landing, and I know it's partly my technique (or lack thereof) but also the CG on the glider is a bit off. I'll have to check batten camber and move the hang point back a bit to see. It was as if it just wanted to be a lawn dart, never settling into ground effect and rounding out- but again, maybe my fear-grip masked the landing cues. In air, trim was reading 48kph- maybe my instrument is calibrated wrong out of it's racing pod- but still, that seems awfully fast for a glider with no VG.
Anyhow, after my one hour flight, I could join the others and let them talk about their flights and feel pretty okay about the whole experience. There is so much more to say about the people that I met, and the advice I got, and the shower we bummed off some really great people, and Ryan's personal best, but really, it's all about my flight for me right now. It wasn't much to write home about, but there I was, back at cloudbase, on my own, touching the mist. Right back where I belong. My arm isn't sore, but my back is... and my shoulders..... and it feels like I went FLYING!