Riding around

I had an interesting day yesterday. I got up early and mooched four rides, ending up back home for dinner. The first ride was in John Good's van from Post Mills to Gorham. We arrived in time to claim the last parking spot for the Discus. I was surprised to see that quite a few GBSC gliders were still there. The weather was perfect for standing around and talking - pleasant temperatures and not a breath of wind. At the Mount Washington summit, the breeze was from the south at less than twenty knots. John took a tow, flew around the local area, landed, and gave a terse report: "dead." We resumed standing around and talking.

Of the various forecasts for later in the day, we chose to pay attention to the "wishful thinking" version. Six more gliders were prepared for flight. Pete (3J) fettled our 1-23, and Skip (JS) assembled his ASW-24. Rick Roelke (RR), Jim David (T4), and Roland Martineau (3K) assembled a 304CZ, a Pegasus, and a PW-5, respectively. Walter Striedieck (I1) asked me if I would like a ride in the PW-6, and I accepted before realizing that it was also an invitation to help assemble the two-seater.

The PW-6 belongs to a NESA member, and Walter brought it along with his towplane to Gorham for the week (not quite sure how he did that). I had not paid too much attention to that glider before yesterday. It is a two-seat version of the PW-5, with a wing span of only 16 meters. It turned out to be quite easy to assemble with three people. Walter and I decided to take the next available tow to the top of the mountain. There is plenty of room in both cockpits, and the visibility from the front seat is outstanding. One feature I didn't like was the location of the handle that jettisons the canopy. It is right in front of your face, in approximately the same location as the release knob in a Schweizer (and it is the same color: red). Be sure to pull the yellow knob down by your left knee when you want to release the tow rope!

We towed all the way up to 6,000 feet (taking a lap around the observatory while still on tow) and released over the Great Gulf. The upslope winds on both sides of the autoroad spur enabled us to stay up until we stumbled into some wave lift at about 6,500 feet. Smoke from the cog railway revealed that the wind had shifted into the west, but it was still very light. We tried every trick, including circling, to stay in the lift. Eventually we were joined by 3J and RR, and the three gliders collaborated in mapping out the small area of lift. We were never able to catch Pete, who topped out around 9,000 feet.

Back on the ground, I noted that I'd been higher in the Post Mills wave last week. But you sure can't beat the scenery around Mount Washington!

I took my third ride of the day in Skip's car, from Gorham directly to the PMSC Directors meeting in Norwich. On the way, I explained the new glider instrument to him, and he explained his iPhone to me.

The Directors meeting was long. It is a lot of work to run this club, and if you ever get the idea that it's easy, please volunteer to be a director next year. Tony will publish the meeting minutes in due course.

Andy gave me a ride home, in time for a late dinner.