Gorham 2009

Most of you know that we'll be going to Gorham, NH in October to experience some "wave soaring" in the Mount Washington valley. We use mountain waves to go high and to achieve our altitude and gain-of-altitude badges and records.

Here is some basic information. Details will be distributed on the normal email list.

The encampment is a joint effort of 4 clubs: PMSC, GBSC, FSA, and NESA. The dates are October 8 - 20, and we will be based at the Gorham, New Hampshire airport. GBSC is responsible for providing a towplane on the first weekend, and we are responsible for the second. If you can make it for only one weekend, plan to come on the second weekend (October 17 -18). Our club gliders will be there on the second weekend, but they could be there as early as the first weekend if demand warrants. Tows will be available all twelve days.

The master list of attendees is kept by Rick Roelke. Here is an outdated copy of that list. If you are planning to attend, or even thinking about it, you should send your information to Rick at wc09@roelke.org. The current list is published on the Mount Washington Soaring Association Yahoo group, which you should join. Do this by asking Rick to sign you up when you send him notice of your intent to attend. You should also have a look at the Mount Washington Soaring Association website.

We will have an "Introduction to Wave Soaring" ground school at 6pm on Thursday, September 17 at the Signal Aviation upstairs classroom at Lebanon Airport. It will be brief, and we will adjourn to the Brew Pub afterwards. The ground school session will cover wave soaring basics, Gorham procedures, and air traffic control procedures.

If you are new to wave soaring, you should read George Hazelrigg's synopsis in the July 2009 issue of Skylines. If you are planning to fly solo, you should also read John Good's briefing document on flying at Mount Washington.

Motel rooms at Gorham have always been cheap, and we have found that last minute arrangements work better than advance reservatons. We will talk about this at the ground school, and we will update you about motel prices on the normal email list. Here is the motel list from a couple of years ago.

Tows will be expensive - get used to it.

If you have questions, put them in the Comments so that others may benefit from the answers.