A narrow window of opportunity today

[Bo Criss]

Yesterday we rallied troops up to Skyport with Debbie reading SW at 6. Half way up we were turned around at the Bypass by an 18 mph gust from the NE. I've never know Debbie to lie so harshly.

Today, we all checked online and the La Cumbre Weather Station showed only a extremely light north after being in the 20 mph range earlier this morning.

Andy, Pauline, Roger and I felt a light south flow on launch with peak gusts of let's say 3 mph from the south. A couple of hawks climbed up from the snake pit and topped out 75 feet overhead.

We all ended up with forward inflations from the recently raked launch. Great footing now, but the wings want to slide down the hill. Maybe we shouldn't rake the top portion as much next time. Thanks for the traction though, whoever helped with launch!

Andy and I got a few circles at launch, but the best spot was between the Round House and the Water Tank, where we climbed to 3,000 feet as long as we wanted. Also the Monastary was working the same - 3,000 feet and not an inch more.

We all landed in no wind at Parma. Retrieving took a lot longer as the work crews are actually making good progress on the road work. Up near Flores Flats we were greeted with a steady gusty north flow. I guess we hit the time table just right - Launching between 12:30 and 1:00.

All in all a very nice flight - SB is beautiful.

I went back to check the La Cumbre Weather Station and it showed the nice gap of no wind that we flew and the North flow kicking in the next hour. Psyched to have that reference!

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?call=K6TZ-11