Lots of great flights in Dunlap this weekend!

[skyoutgirl]

We had this years second installment at Dunlap this past weekend. The weather was excellent and our flying hungers were satiated, for the time being. We had about 15 people show up, many of them newbies. Most folks were from Santa Barbara, but we had a few guys show up to join us from the SF and Monterey areas. Marge and I brought the Eagle Van, packed to the brim with excited pilots and camping gear.

Saturday morning we launched the early flight around 10-10:30 and the thermals were already starting to rise. All the Eaglette's had great launches and landings, with the newest guy even getting a 15 minute soaring flight. Watching these guys fly was getting the more experienced pilots amped up for some thermaling, as we could see the day starting to come on.

Cort got out there fairly early, and managed a lovely low save over Dan's LZ. It was great to see him still owning the sky when the rest of us were just getting ready to go.

The XC guys, including participants in the Kansas Open, launched around noon. The thermals were strong and small, high pressure was making conditions a little challenging. We weren't getting too high, I only saw 6800' but did see a 16 mph headwind at one point. Kansas and Stephan (Haase) flew the furthest, making it just past Squaw Valley. Me, Bob Anderson, Marge and a few others landed at the Ranger Station. The newbies got the van on chase and swept us all up easily. We headed back up to launch for lunch before the evening flight.

The evening flight delivered....the first guys to launch were getting right on the elevator up so the newbs waited a bit longer to go, but were thrilled to gave good conditions for playing with their speed bar in. We got pretty much everyone out there, most people soaring for an hour or so. The evening flight here is so nice because it has such a friendly progression from strong to smooth to sunset soaring. You can follow the range around towards the LZ as the sun shifts and soar all the hills until landing right at sundown. John Lyon wins the award this weekend for airtime, he was one of the first to launch and last to land. King of the Light Lift that guy is.

Showers, a nice campfire, some Romanian liquor and S'mores rounded out the evening up at Smokeys.

Sunday morning came, and everyone was running a little slow! The newbs sauntered over to launch and got airborne around 10:30-11 am this time. Again they were blessed with lots of nice little thermals to play around in. A few stayed in the around for an hour and a half, landing only because their friendly instructor suggested they may not like the conditions for landing at 1:00!!

Bob Anderson hopped out there pretty early Sunday, and once we heard he was at 7500' over Delilah, the rest of the XC crew got there acts together. There were 5-6 of us that hopped out in the air quick and were greeted with much nicer conditions then on Saturday. I found nice and smooth 800fpm climbs, and topped at around 7300' for the day. I made it, along with Stephan, over to Bear Mountain Pizza in Squaw Valley. Kansas did a lap around the same valley before dirting somewhere nearby. Meanwhile, Bob is still up there somewhere cruising around. The Eagle Van found us again and got everyone back to launch (after a little pizza and ice cream) so that we could get things packed up and ready to fly the evening again.

Sundays evening flight was also spectacular. The thermals were still working and the wind hadn't gotten crazy strong. The new guys, feeling more confident with a little more experience under their belt now, were working the terrain all around launch. We hung on for a long time, enjoying the smooth air and beautiful sunset.

I learned so much on this trip. Having some really experienced XC guys there, allowing me to pick their brains, and then be able to fly soon after and put it into practice was the best part. My new glider and I are starting to speak the same language and that is always a nice feeling. Working all kinds of lift, from strong and spotty, to light, smooth and everything in-between in two days teaches you so much about how to fly your glider.

These types of gatherings are so valuable to us as pilots and as people. Every level of pilot has something to learn from and teach to one another. The camaraderie you get is beyond compare as well.

I'm super thankful to each of you who came, and hope to get some airtime soon with those of you who couldn't.

-Michele

[Rich]

Good times were had by everyone at Dunlap this last weekend. The air was quite active so I took no pictures from the sky. Bart had an interesting down looking "wing barnacle" camera and posted the action filled movie to FB. Cort flew for hours and newbies got some serious hours of thermal experience. I launched Saturday midday and got plucked straight up, and away I went.... Thanks to all for meeting up there for a fun and safe experience!