The Flying Scotsman: Starthistle

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Starthistle

The Starthistle fly-in takes place on the Memorial day weekend (towards the end of May) at Woodrat. Pilots come from all over the Western US, attracted by the site and the spring-time conditions.

Woodrat is in the south of Oregon and offers great XC flying with some unusual (for Oregon) challenges. It consists of small, tree-covered hills typically 2,000 ft higher than tight little valleys. This isn't big-air flying; you seldom get more than 5,000 ft above the valley floors.

Valley winds are an important part of flying Woodrat; obviously they can present landing 'challenges' but they can also produce convergence lines that provide bumpy lift. Conditions can change frequently, so you need to be pretty alert. Typically, if you can get and stay high things are straightforward. Conversely, sink below ridge height and suddenly everything becomes much less 'user-friendly'.

The attractions go well beyond the flying - great scenery, friendly locals, wineries, good weather and cute little towns. If the flying isn't great, you can take in a play at Ashland!

I headed down early on Saturday morning; the forecast wasn't great but it was in the ballpark. Saturday was too windy to go anywhere easily but conditions were better on the Sunday and Monday. Saturday night was a Spaghetti Dinner (organized by the CPC - my local club) and Sunday night was the fly-in BBQ, so there was no need to worry about where to eat.

I had a couple of nice flights but was a little disappointed in my flying. Afterwards I came to the conclusion I was flying too fast. All my XC flights this year have been alone (even if I took off with others) and generally launching late; there's no point hanging around in these circumstances. But at Starthistle I launched early and frequently flew past groups of other pilots. In these circumstances, it would have been smarter to wait for them and fly together. In a week's time, the competition season starts for me at Woodrat with the WCPC, so it's better to learn these lessons now rather than during the comp!

The flying for the weekend finished when Dan and I landed at the Longswords winery after running out of lift on the run along Rabies Ridge. It's unusual to land and be presented with a glass of wine by a beautiful woman - but I could get used to it!