SCPA & SBSA Discussion Board

Eight pilots in the FAA burb with no driver left the high school around 2:30 and met Brendan, who was gracious enough to drive down from his campsite and give us a boost from the sandpile. Tom P was first off in light cycles at 4:00 and quickly climbed a few hundred over. By the time I had a decent launch cycle he was back down at the bonzai tree looking for lift.

Got nothing on the vario all the way to the bonzai and a glance at the gps showed a 15 mph tailwind as I flew over it. Tom had drifted out to the South and was going up so I followed suit, finding a nice convergence seam. Smooth lift to 10k. Tom checked out at 10, I stuck around for a bit more before following him south.

Easy glide. Hands off and seat steering over Dry Lakes Ridge at 40 mph. 6k over Nordhoff Ridge and 3k over the high school. Tom and I folded up on the grass, enjoying the warm evening air as the sun set. Sweetness.

Not sure if everyone was able to launch, I heard some chatter on the radio but I suspect it went katabatic soon after I launched. Much thanks to Robin and Brendan for making it possible today.

Vario log: 1040 fpm up, 760 dn, max alt 10395, 1 hr flight time.

After OJ and Tom P launched, the up cycles quickly diminished to nil, followed soon after by OTB trickles. Three pilots attempted forward launches, one successfully (Matt?), one semi-successfully (Joel, who launched with a knot in right wing and got drilled by hideous sink heading out) and one just plain ugly (Chris Paul, who ended up in the bushes below launch after aborting). After that, the rest of us packed it in, as the north wind was becoming consistent OTB.

Joel did a great job of salvaging what looked like a potentially nasty situation (sinking rapidly below and to the east of the bonsai tree), eventually popping out his knot and getting up out front. Matt also got up out front, and both landed at Sandpile after nice flights. The rest of us sat and stewed (and envied OJ and Pipkin) and talked about getting up to launch earlier next time. Maybe an hour or more earlier, since it's always better to be too early than too late.

Congrats to the early launchers. And thanks to Brendan for being kind enough to boost the rest of us down to the Sandpile again.