August weather

The Wednesday afternoon slackers showed their respect for our chief towpilot and were ready to go right on time at noon.  Andy towed everybody and went back home to finish his workday.  Other than a brief pause when we thought we had lost the towrope (false alarm), Andy made nine tows without shutting down.

It was indeed the best weather of the week, as Tim predicted.  However, it wasn't all that straightforward.  And it was hot and humid. There were clouds over the mountains, with a westerly wind aloft.  Some of the clouds got out of hand, causing rainshowers and blowoff.  The wind down low was from the south, which put us square in the middle of weak valley conditions, with the cloudfields to the east and west, just out of reach.

The trick was to leave town early, and Greg (JD), Tom (2W) and Tim (BU) did just that.  They made it to the clouds on the Vermont side and followed them all the way to Island Pond, returning via the clouds on the New Hampshire side.  You could not have done any better than that.

Evan (T8) and Rick (LEL) struggled to get away, with Evan making at least three desperate returns to Post Mills before climbing back up.  At least he didn't land.  Rick needed a relight.  They both headed for home when the lightning started.

The day ended early with a ten mile diameter shadow due to blowoff.  Luckily everyone saw it coming and we made long smooth glides into the darkness to land by about 1600.  Evan managed to stay up the longest of all.  After that the sun came back out.  Typical.

Keith (BA), Dennis (DC), and David (505) were all trapped at Post Mills by the big shadow.  Dennis set a record for circling, and David got his first flight of the season in the 1-26.