Thanks to all who responded for our first official publication of the
"Soaring Report". If you like this concept, remember, it will
only work if YOU take the time to send in a few notes.
-Dick
By the way, Jeff Strong is the proud father of a baby boy, born May 22nd at 2:36 a.m. He weighed in at 9lbs 12 oz and 22 inches. His name is Jared Cloutier Strong. Mom, dad and baby are doing fine, and so far sleeping well.
Dick, what a great idea! This is like our own personal avweb. Maybe you could glean the best of the best as a short contribution each month to towlines?
BTW, Jan and Zuzanna moved to Boise Idaho. But you were close.
Jeff
Great idea; it will give me ideas about who to prod for TowLines stories and
get more people involved. By the way, it is Idaho that Jan moved to. Look
at a map; it is quite west and not square, but it does begin with an "I". :-)
Dear members:
My season has started off with a bang thanks to my transition to the
B-4. A real confidence builder was a two-hour flight in the 1-26 back in
April where I reached 6,100 feet (I'd never been over 4,100 in a solo
flight before!) I called down after an hour and got the word that no one
else wanted the ship -- I let out a loud whoop and had another great
hour.
On my fourth B-4 flight over Memorial Day weekend, on the 30th, I flew a
"personal best" of three hours, reaching an altitude of 7,000 feet for
the first time. What a treat! I worked a nice big thermal midway between
the field and Fitchburg for my best gain, then had the luxury of
skirting the outside of Fitchburg before pointing my nose back home. A
two-liter soda bottle full of water tucked behind the seat made it all
possible on that hot day. I had been up before for a 100 minute flight,
and it was my thirst that brought me back down. Jan told me about the
soda bottle and where to put it -- and that was good enough for me. The
ideal solution, I bet, is to rig a "camel back" to hang behind the seat,
but I haven't tried that yet.
This last weekend was fun, too, but a lot more work for the hour and
forty-some mintues I was up. On Saturday June 5 around 3 p.m., Dick told
me the latest thermal index topped out at 5,000, and sure enough that's
the best I did, with the clouds hovering slightly above at between 5,500
and 6,000. Sunny, but a lot of cloud cover made you work for 2-4 knot
thermals. I found myself diving for blue spaces whenever they opened up.
The gravel pit was reliable, if weak, the whole time I was up. Whenever
in doubt, that's usually where I go. It looked like I would only have
about an hour when I skirted the south end of the runway and -- woosh,
up I went from about 1,800 back up to over 3,000, ending up square over
the gravel pit. Not a bad day at all.
Richard;
Sunday was a lousy day for soaring. (Look at Gary's charts) I launched
at 3:20 in the blue 2-33 and followed Peter S. to 3K. I quickly found
some scratchy lift that took me to 3500. I pushed upwind in zero sink
conditions to just about I190, exit #5. With the nose pointed to the
WNW I encountered some VERY smooth 100/min up. I stayed there for few
minutes and decided that this must be wave. I decided to move to my
right a to see what was out there. With the nose now pointed at
Wachusettes Mt. I was flying at 42 mph in 100-500/min up, HANDS FREE,
FEET FREE, just enjoying the hazy view of nothing. A perfect time for a
CD player and some nice jazz. I topped out at about 4500 after making
four passes through that same region. It appeared to be a band about
3/4 mile wide, directly above and to the west of the field. I tried to
push forward to the next period in the wave but was not able to find it.
Nor was I able to find the original wave when I returned. Perhaps it
had faded.
I had 45 min flight on a day where sled rides were the rule.
--Ted Boileau
Dick,
I like your idea for a weekend soaring report! I've always wondered how
the weekend was, so I appreciate you doing this. If you know the total
number of tows, it would be nice to see that too since it provides an
indication of cash flow.
Good to see Dezi in the air again!
--Bob Banta
I hit 6200 with some 800 fpm climb under a big cloud Sat. I am sending this
as a reason to check out the 126 list and to thank Bill and Gary for
providing it.
--Ken
After a great flight with Ken Woodard in the Blanik on Saturday 5/29 at
about four o'clock, I noticed that the 1-26 was available.
Didn't take long to get it on line and in the air with a 3k tow. Not long
after, a nice thermal took me to 7,200 for a personal record. After 1.5
hours and storm coming in, landed long on 34 a put it to bed.
END OF REPORT
Renee Fishman -- What, when did Idaho become a state?
- Renee
Todd Hyten--Great Flying
--Todd Hyten
Ted Boileau ---Catch that Wave!!!!
Bob Banta
Ken Woodard - Thank you Bill and Gary
Dick Ruel - Personal Best