Monday, August 6, 2007

Weekend Report August 4 - 5

As seems to be the pattern this year, we had two completely different weather days this weekend. Also, as usual, I got the forecast wrong.

Saturday was a low-turnout day due to the hot weather and instructor shortage. Knowing that it would be a slow day, Doug traveled to Post Mills anyway and made two tows. Pete and Skip were the beneficiaries, with flights of a few hours each. It was hot. The smarter members of the club went kayaking on Lake Fairlee instead of flying.

The weather was cooler and the conditions were weaker on Sunday. Skip and Pete came back for more, but found that it was a struggle to stay in the air. On Tom Cooch's fifth flight ever, he made an unassisted climb of about a thousand feet . Doug towed again, and this time he got a chance to fly the 1-23 at the end of the day. Evan accumulated 134 km in one of those "long local" flights in PM.

There was no cookout this weekend. Perhaps we were saving our socializing for the annual Postflight Lobster and Clam Bake in Lyme on Saturday, August 11. New this year: a blueberry pie bake-off, to be judged by a select committee of glider pilots. I'm not sure if there will be a pie eating contest, but if there is one, count me in. Stay tuned for details.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I listened to our chief instructor and weather guru and went soaring only on Sunday. Sigh.

Actually, on Saturday I was committed to the Champlain Valley Folk Festival. Went soaring Sunday despite it looking weak and getting a late start (late return from festival, bee attack in the morning...). Launched at 3:30 and still managed a 2h45m local flight. Lift was hard to find and very narrow, and topped out at about 5000 feet. Beautiful view though, as the haze was gone.