Skyport 12/9/08

[Tyrone]

Eagle Van met at 10AM at Parma. Myself, Kev-Dog, Brian, Parma, Doug, T-Ride Chris, B, Kev Howe, Stratocaster, Roger, Ed from Georgia, and John from Canada all piled into the Van and headed up. The ride started with a 15 minute wait for the road crews to get some work done before they let us through. Doug was the first to launch and climbed out probably 400 feet over launch. We all watched as he tagged R&R, Thermal Factory, and headed out front. Roger went next and ended up in the snake pit. Brian launched next and climbed out 200 over launch, headed for Thermal factory but got no love over there. He then went out front to the antenna farm and roundhouse. John from Canada went next and had a buoyant glide to the roundhouse. He played for a while out there before landing at Parma. Ed wasn’t so lucky and landed at St. Marys. B was next and was able to climb out above launch before heading to the antenna farm. I launched next and climbed out above launch 200 feet. I then headed for R&R to pimp off Leeside as he was working the lift on his hang glider in the saddle between the R&R & The Tit. I arrived below the saddle, tried to hang in zero lift until that ended, so I headed down Doc’s finger and found a nice thermal about halfway down where Doc’s finger flattens. That took me to about 2800 and I headed for the Holy Hills. Lee was working the west side of the holy hills and I was keeping St. Marys within reach. I wasn’t getting higher at the holy hills, so I headed for the Monastery and found a thermal over the rattlesnake trail. That brought me high enough to make a play for the roundhouse where Parma Chris was at 3000 over the antenna farm. I headed for the roundhouse and found a ripper that took me quickly up to 2900. Parma came on the Radio and said he was headed for the beach, so I decided to follow him. The glide was pretty nice over Parma but it got worse short of the Riviera. Once I passed the Riviera, the glide ranged from 15:1 to 22:1. I arrived at the freeway with 1400, and landed at the beach shortly after Parma. Thanks to Kev for the retrieve. Not sure how many more days the road crew is going to be on Gibraltar. Anyone know?