Monday, February 22, 2010

Cliffside Weekend

Spring is slowly arriving in the Pacific NW; the last few days have been cold but clear, warm during the day but cold at night. The flying forecasts have been ‘suspiciously good’ as well. Best of all, it was all predicted to last through the weekend.

Cliffside was the obvious place for these conditions but it‘s a long drive. I seldom fly it both days of a weekend, but I couldn‘t persuade anyone to try the closer but more fickle sites.

Saturday turned out to be slightly disappointing. It was weak and everyone struggled. I had a number of small flights, getting above launch in wimpy thermals several times before top-landing. I couldn't put together a sustained flight until the winds picked up late in the day and several pilots enjoyed soaring flights.

Sunday looked very like Saturday. The wind was much more from the S than on Saturday but still seemed weak. I went up with Jim Baldo and Jan Kubic to the E (or N) launch - it looked a better bet in the conditions, with the possibility of hiking higher if things were light. There were other pilots over on the ‘standard’ launch, including Noah and KC.
When we arrived, conditions seemed promising and we didn't hike up higher. But as soon as we get our gear out conditions weakened. We didn't want to sink out and waited for promising conditions before committing to the air.

Jim started the vigil but gave up after maybe 20 minutes. I took over, tried a cycle but side-hilled when it didn't deliver. Jim took over and did the same thing. I launched and struggled but got just enough with weak thermals to stay up and had a nice flight, getting maybe 350 ft over launch before top-landing after a 30 minutes flight. The others weren't so lucky and ended up sinking out.

As almost everyone headed home, conditions improved slightly and I had almost an hour of soaring in light conditions, interrupted by a top landing to warm my fingers. KC, who was over on the other launch, joined me for part of the flight.

Maybe not the greatest of flying but it was really nice working weak thermals both days. I'd forgotten how much fun it is!

Some photos -> http://picasaweb.google.com/DMMullin/Cliffside21Feb#


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