The Soaring Diary
This Soaring Diary begins in May 2000
and ends in June 2000To see a previous volume, click here and you'll see a selection of dates
(they go back in time at least two years).
(This link will also tell you what this diary is all about)Editor and publisher - Peter Kelly
Reports in each Diary are provided by soaring enthusiasts from all over the world
(In chronological reverse order)Beginning@@Wed, June 1@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Starting a new Soaring Diary.End@@ June 1
Beginning@@Tue, 30 May 00
Received a report from Key. Thanks Key, good report. No other reports or weather / soaring forecasts received---------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 28 May 2000 20:46:46 -0700
From: key dismukes <keydismukes@earthlink.net>
To: pjkelly@community.net
Subject: PIREPHello Peter
Saturday, 27 May evinced an interesting mixture of conditions. I
landed my C182 at Williams around 1130 and found Bruce--HB, Jim--3E, and
John--7HV already assembling. Although a weak cold front (a mythical
weather entity, according to PK) had gone through friday afternoon, the
air on saturday already showed the dirty haze that usually foretells
stable air. Also the air was calm as i flew in from Livermore. As we
scratched our heads, Kenny proclaimed that on days with a morning wind
from the SE, a shearline commonly builds, announced by a shift in wind
to the SW. Kenny kept pointing out putative Cu's over Rumsey gap, which
none of us could see. Kenny claimed that as the afternoon developed the
shearline would progress from Rumsey gap over to WSC. Somehow, even
though i was last to rig, everybody else managed to stage their gliders
so i was in the front of line. Bruce said something about the senior
pilot should go first-- he was clever to find a phrase other than elder
pilot.
So i launch at 1330, debating continuously whether to steer toward
Rumsey or toward Goat mtn. On tow i see some Cu's forming beyond Snow
mtn and decide to go north of Walker Ridge and Indian Resevoir to the
spine that works up the southern end of Goat. Burn up 6000 feet of tow,
search around along the spine, encounter turbulence (presaging the
conditions), am unable to sustain and retreat back toward the valley.
Around 3500 feet, about a mile north of Antelope airport (adjacent three
sisters) i encounter lift. Circling, i notice it is unusually smooth
for a thermal, though the wind drift seems too little for wave. However
the lift steadily improves, eventually reaching as much as 5kts, very
smooth and getting broader as i climb. Wave indeed. By now HB is
steering his tow my direction and also sets up to climb in the wave. I
top out around 11K, move back toward the spine of Goat and work
successive bands to around 13K.
Now wave clouds or any other types of cloud formed in the area from
Walker to Snow at any time, but numerous raggedity Cu's could now be
seen extending from around Alder Springs to the north and to the NW
toward Round Valley. I glide over Goat and push on to Snow mountain,
carelessly letting myself drift below the wave, thinking i will get
thermal life on some side of Snow. It is not to be. I get down to
ridge level and encounter only turbulence and so retrace my path back
along Goat encountering rotor-like turbulence but nothing i was
sufficiently competant to exploit. Retreated back to my original source
at Antelope and started all over again.
Meanwhile HB, 3E, and 7HV much more astutely follow the same path
upward but dispense with my careless example. 3E and HB reach altitudes
of 15K and 14K (I think) playing around just east of snow. I didn't
hear 7HV's altitude. Other pilots in the WSC duo discus and ASW20 also
work the wave enthusiastically.
Pumping up at Antelope to about 12K i glide up Bear Valley trying to
reach the clouds that start around Diamond M. The first set of clouds
turn out not to be fruitful and i decide to glide home from around
7500ft. Back over the central valley i encounter Kenny's shear--indeed
a happy Cue is sitting over WSC at around 7000ft as late as 1700. HB
and 3E play around until after 1800, and conditions were probably
workable even later.
I would be interested in your comments on the weather conditions.
I'm thinking the shear and wave conditions were working in collusion.
Most striking was that no clouds ever formed in the aread we encountered
wave but a distinct zone of Cu's spread from Alder Springs northward--in
the evening these seemed to blend into lennies. The dirty haze
disappeared at some point and from altitude we could see clouds out over
the ocean.
Please forgive the excessive length of this report. I am trying to
earn five years credit in one sitting.key (aka PS)
------------------------------------Comments by the editor (PK) on the above report--
Re:Length. Excessive length is no problem - whatever it takes to get the stoty across. Re:Credits. Five year credits are N/A - only one credit per report. Frequency and receny are the only factors. Besides, what't the credit good for?
Re: comments on wx conditions. I was hoping the writer would provide some correlation between the charts and the actual conditions - me? I didn't even look at the charts that day. Sorry. Learn by doing. What's your theory of how it related to the charts? What was on the 700 mb (10,000 ft) and 850 mb (5,000 ft)? Were the isobars 90 degrees to the ridge, and tight, giving you a good flow from the west at 500 mb?End@@May 30
Beginning@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Mon, 29 May 00 - 9 AM
We received an excellent report from Brian - I am sure you will all enjoy reading this one. Thanks Brian for sharing your flying experience. I'll leave Brian's email address on here so you can write to him if you have any questions or comments. If you enjoy reading this wonderful article, let him know, and cc a copy to me and I'll post some of it on the page - with your permission, of course. Here's Brian's Story:---------------------------------------------------
From: "Melissa Collins" <Melissa_Collins@worldnet.att.net>
Cc: <pjkelly@community.net>, <psolies@utsi.edu>, <iagramun@utsi.edu>
Subject: Five Days in Minden!!!
Date: Sun, 28 May 2000 11:01:52 -0700---------------
Just thought I'd give you an update on the last five days in Minden. In short, it was great! To summarize--I had 7 flights (2 of them unplanned as you'll see shortly). Total flight time was 29 hours. I drove up to Minden Saturday afternoon (beautiful drive up Highway 20 by the way).
The next morning (Sunday, May 21st) I was at the airfield around mid-morning. The forecast predicted 900 fpm to 18k ft. Rather than be my usual cheap self by taking a 1200 ft tow and then scratching for a half-hour to climb out, I took a very comfortable 2000ft tow at 1pm, released in strong lift, and immediately climbed to 11k ft (6300ft AGL). I then moved a little further East (into the Pinenut Mtns) and proceeded to climb to 14k ft, at which point I turned on the O2. However, to my dismay, I realized that I had failed to turn on the O2 at the bottle. Darn, I hate it when I do that. Well, maybe it won't be all that good today I thought. But, 10 minutes later I was sitting in another 8kt thermal at 14k ft (and it was only 1:30 pm) and I realized that the day was only going to get stronger. I immediately turned towards the airfield, buried the nose to 120 kts, and headed back for a re-light. An hour after I had first launched I was back on the ground (this time with the O2 on and ready to go).
As a side note though, on my turn to final I became very aware of a glider accident just shy of the runway. A helicopter was evacuating the pilot to the nearby hospital, but the individual did not survive. Apparently, the pilot had gotten low (in his Pik 20/30E) and was not able to make it back to the airfield. He touched down in the scrub no more than a 100 feet from the end of one of the dirt strips, but then plowed into a fence (not really visible from the air). The wings hit between two fence posts, but the wire fence came through the canopy causing fatal head and chest injuries. It was an extremely unfortunate accident, but drove home to me the need to keep emergency landing fields within gliding distance (since you'll never know where the next fence, ditch, or other hazard might be lurking just beyond your sight).
Well, with the O2 back on I took another tow to 2000ft and immediately climbed out to 14k ft. I got on top of the Pinenut Mtns (max elevation about 10k ft) and headed south towards Mono Lake. A nice cloud street set up at 18k ft from Mt Patterson to the southern end of Mono Lake, making for a real fast cruise for that 40 NM stretch. However, at Mono Lake the clouds just stopped...and so did I (this was day one, no since landing out on day 1). I spent the next couple hours practicing dolphin flight under 7 kt cloud streets. I zoomed around about 20 NM south of Minden and got used to some different routes on the eastern slope of the Sierras. I finished the day with a high speed pass down the inactive runaway followed by a 600 ft climb and unevenful landing. All in all, I covered a leisure 300km or so (around 3 turnpoints). Total flight time for the day-5.7 hours.
Day 2 (Monday May 22) didn't look to be all that good. The forecast was 600 fpm lift to 12k ft--and it was just about on the money. This was by far the toughest day. I had an easy enough climb out, but never got above 11k ft for the first half of the day. Finally, while scratching for some more lift I overheard some other pilots commenting on the wind direction and speed (in reference to ridge lift off Mt Siegel). Sure enough, the ridge was working. After my many hours on Tennessee ridges, this was something I could relate to. I buried my nose and arrived at ridge top level. Within seconds I was climbing in 5-8 kts lift to 12k ft. After a short climb, I then followed another pilot upwind towards the Sierra Range where he expected to find wave. Of course, if I had thought twice I probably wouldn't have followed him (my Pik 20's performance just doesn't compare to a 26meter Open class ASW-22). Surprisingly enough, I only arrived 800 feet lower than the ASW-22; however, he was above the mountain and I was below it. Lift was weak yet consistent for him, but it was sporadic and choppy for me. I couldn't stay in the lift and eventually begin a slow, agonizing descent. After an hour or so of scratching here and there, I wound up at 1200 feet and finally put the plane down on the Minden runway. Still a good day, learned a lot, and stayed up for 2.8 hours.
Day 3 (Tue May 23rd) looked to be a poor day. High cirrus blocked out the area all morning, but the forecast was suggesting very strong conditions. Not the first time, the FAA guys got the forecast wrong, but hey, I came to fly. So fly I did. I launched at about 1pm and began a slow climb to 8k ft. I pushed further East into the Pinenuts and connected with a thermal to 9k ft. Once again, I moved further into the mountains, this time stretching my personal boundaries and finally connecting with some strong, but turbulent lift to 11k ft. The climb out had taken an hour or so, but I had made it. Four student pilots never got further than the first thermal though they tried 3 times each that day. Without a 40 to 1 ship, I couldn't have done it either (and still been within glide distance of the field). From there on the day just flew by. Forecast called for overdevelopment and thunderstorms and there was. However, there was also strong lift to 14.5k ft. I found 4-8 kts all over the area. This time I headed northeast past Reno and had a good ole time. I hung out to the North moving east and west across the valley and following all the cloud streets. It was good practice. Some clouds were building while others were falling apart. I made 8 turnpoints on this day and covered about 400km. There was a huge cumulonimbus cloud with a large anvil directly over Lake Tahoe. After colliding with some light hail kicking out the top and downwind of this one (and seeing a lightning strike 10 miles to my west), I decided it was time to wrap up the day. About 2 hours later, the rain and winds came rolling in. I had spent 5.2 hours in the air.
Day 4 (Wed. May 24th) also looked crummy. High cirrus clouds and lower predicted temperatures suggested anything but good flying weather. The only plus was the recent passage of the previous evening's storm. However, I was here to fly, so I launched about 1pm again. The climb out was easy enough since I took a 3000ft tow directly to a nice cloud that was forming. Once at 14k ft, I pressed southeast along another cloudstreet down to a dry lake turnpoint nearly 80 NM away. I folllowed another cloudstreet over a very high plateau and then went out into the blue to to get a turnpoint at Lee Vining (the furthest south I had ever been). However, the next two hours turned out to be a real learning experience for me as I fought to get back home. After scratching 2000ft off the ground in unfamiliar territory (within glide distance of the Hilton Ranch), I finally connected with a good thermal back up to a safe distance. I then followed another cloud street up to the North and came to the back side of the Pinenuts only to come to a screeching halt as my Pik-20 came in contact with some real rain. Now I had heard about the effects of rain on Pik-20s before, but had never experienced it till now. As soon as the wings got wet, the glider started humming, vibrated ever so slightly, and developed a noticeable sink rate. Considering I was at 12k ft fighting upwind to cross a 10k ft ridge and then make an airfield 25 NM away, I opted to head out of the rain and look for an alternative. While I was at it, I got hold of Minden on the radio to let them know that I might not make it back. After I got the wings dry and begin a half-hour search to find some lift that didn't require passage through rain. Finally, I got the altitude I needed and pressed upwind over the ridge. The wind was easily 20-25 kts in my face, so progress was still slow. During the glide I noticed strong lift on the lee side of the ridge along with lenticular clouds further upwind (hmmm wave maybe?) and then strong sink on the back side. I grabbed a thermal on the upwind side of the ridge and then pressed further upwind to where clouds were just starting to form on the downwind side of the Foehn gap. Sure enough the audio vario rang out and I climbed like a home sick angel in 8 kt lift. At 14k ft, I pressed further upwind to the primary wave and climbed easily and steadily up to 18k ft. By this time it was 6:30pm. For the next hour and a half, I cruised up and down the entire lake (Tahoe). I cruised the western shore and went many miles further to the Western most crest of the Sierras (I could have seen Williams gliderport had visibility been better), and then went north to Truckee and cruised down the eastern side of the lake. Progress up wind was only 40 kts, but downwind I moved along at 90 kts (with 60kts indicated). Just for kicks I went to 120 kts indicated and watched my ground speed climb to over 180kts (200+mph). A quick glance at the shadows on the ground suddenly made me nervous though as I realized that the day was quickly wrapping itself up. It was after all nearly 8pm. Since official sunset was at 8:30 (and I figured everybody was probably wondering where I was--the radio battery died awhile back), I decided to wrap up the day. I touched down into a stiff crosswind after a splendid 7.1 hour flight. I had covered over 500km (8 turnpoints) and completed an official FAI 400km triangle in the process. So much for the crummy day!
Well, after all this, you'd think it couldn't get any better, but it did. Day 5 (Thurs, May 25th) dawned clear and bright. I got to the airfield early, and it's a good thing too because clouds were starting to pop by 9:30 am. No forecast from the weather service, but it didn't take a rocket scientist here to figure out this was going to be a great day. I took an early tow at 11 am (well it was early for me), but could have easily launched more than an hour ago. By this time, the cloud streets were well-defined (though only about 12k ft). I cautiously moved towards the east and within an hour was sitting over Hawthorne about 40 miles away. I was feeling good, but within 20 minutes I was back in a pickle. I was back down to 2000 ft, this time over a (not-so dry) dry lake bed. Knowing I could safely land here (but would most definitely prefer not to) I pressed on to a nice-looking cloud which gave me a well-appreciated 5 kt climb. You should have heard the relief once I passed 10k ft again. After this, I was a little more cautious, but continued to pick my way down towards the fabled White Mountains (a 14k ft ridge of mountains with a well-known {and deserved} reputation for extremely strong and reliable lift). On the way though, you have to pass over more long and high plateaus (around 10k ft). This is a little eery when you are only cruising at 12-14k ft (well it was for me!). Finally, I got to the northern end of the range at about 13k ft. I was sure hoping it would be working. Sure enough as I got to within a few hundred feet of the mountain, I felt the beginnings of lift. As I worked closer and closer in I followed the side of the mountain working the lift like you would a ridge day in Tennessee. In a short while, I nailed a 10 kt guster which took me right back up to cloudbase. For the next hour, I screamed along at 14-16.5 k ft and a conservative 70-80 kts. I ran the entire length of the Whites down to Tinnimaha Reservoir, back up to White Mtn Peak, down to Bishop airport, and then headed back north. It was time to go home, but ahead the clouds had begun to overdevelop on the mountains. Unfamiliar and intimidated by my distance from Minden (now over 120 NM away), I pressed to the northwest towards two well-known airports (Mammoth Lakes and then Lee Vining). As it turns out, this was a mistake. The lift soon died in the lower elevations along the way. Rather, I should have waited out the rain showers on the Whites or even pressed to the East around the rain and followed a cloudstreet all the way back home. Of course, hindsight is 20-20. On the way to Mammoth Lakes I had a definite sinking feeling in my chest that I wasn't going to see Minden tonite. I arrived at Mammoth Lakes at 2000 ft AGL where I caught a 2-3 knotter back up to 12.5k ft. Depending on the winds, I may or not make Lee Vining 25 NM to the North. However, I pressed on knowing there were 2 emergency landing areas along the way. As I moved along at best glide speed, I was extremely apprehensive--even though I knew what I was doing and I was flying as smartly as could be done. I was keeping close tabs on my progress, but the high plateau looming in the foreground was getting bigger and bigger even though mile by mile, my achieved glide continued to outperform the predicted glide slope. I was going to make Lee Vining, but unless the wave was working there was no way I was going to get any further. I scratched around in the mountains to the west, but only caught the weakest wave/rotor/thermal. Now the task at hand was to land the glider--something I was not looking forward to doing. All along the way, in the back of my mind I kept hearing the AWOS reported winds from Mammoth Lakes (crosswind, crosswind, and more crosswind--20 to 25 knots of it). With only one runway at either location, landing options were non-existent. Looking down at the windsock over Lee Vining, I noticed that it was ripping straight across the runway (20-25 knots across my wing). To make matters worse, it fluctuated 10 degrees either side of a dead perpendicular crosswind. Oh great, now I might also have a tailwind I thought--and sure enough I did. As I came in on final, I had full rudder and a wing into the wind just to compensate for the crosswind. I flared as normal, held it off to bleed off some speed, then straightened it out and set it down. Everything was good as I applied the brakes (HARD), but a second later (with full oppposite rudder applied) the glider weathercocked 40 degrees into the wind. As I went off the runway I started to get slowed down, but then the controls reversed on me. The nose went down into the dirt and the left wing dropped. Didn't do much to help out that pretty paint job, but it helped slow down the plane. I ended up about a half-a-wing span off the runway firmly imbedded to my axles in the soft gravelly dirt. Along the way though, I had clipped a runway light putting a nice crack on my wing's outboard leading edge. The underside of the glider was scratched up from the nose skidding on the ground and the sagebrush bush I ran over, but other than that everything was just fine. The glider was in flyable condition and even the gear doors were intact. My pride was big time bruised, but over the last two days I have thought it through entirely and realize I did everything as I should have (in so far as my crosswind landing procedures went). Even the book says the crosswind limit is 15 knots (and you know I gotta agree with them on that one). After I secured the glider, which only meant putting the canopy back on, since it was firmly held in place by the soft gravel, I called up Minden and gave them my location. After awhile we decided it would be best if I slept in Lee Vining and got an aero retrieve in the morning. So I grabbed a room and stayed the night (but not before some more adventures which we can talk about later). I had covered about 500km of my scheduled 600+ km route during the 6.7 hour long flight. What a day!!!
And finally day 6 (Fri May 26th) broke clear, bright, and calm (thank god!). The tow pilot arrived about 8:30 am and after breaking the rope trying to get the glider out of the dirt, we finally succeeded (good thing I carry an extra Tost tow ring {weak link} with me). I had landed in the middle of the runway so that is where we launched from. In retrospect, it would have been a very ugly rope break scenario under 200 feet (next time I will push back). The airport sits at 7000 ft (high density altitude) so it took a little longer than usual to get the wings straight and level (the stick propping the wing up didn't do a very good job keeping the wing off the ground). With full rudder and stick to raise the wing, my eyes were glued on a rapidly approaching runway light (not again I thought). Not to worry though, I cleared the light by a good 10 inches or more. The next hour or so I chatted with the tow pilot on our return flight 70 NM to the North. The scenery was beautiful. A very strong headwind (at least 20-25 knots) made progress slow, but would make any glide to an airport (should the rope break, etc.) very straightforward. Merely by heading downwind, I could easily achieve 60 to 1 performance (though it would be in the wrong direction). At 13k ft 20 NM south of Minden I released from the long tow and headed home on my own. With the wind at altitude I was only getting a mid-20s glide slope. For this last half hour, I relaxed and enjoyed the familar surroundings. My glider and I were reconciled once again following a pleasant and uneventful landing.
I took a little good-natured razzing by the locals for my unintended lay-over, but I learned a lot over these last 5 days, dramatically improved my cross-country confidence and skills, and had one heck of a good time along the way. In the weekends ahead, I intend to return to Minden and do one better. In the meantime, I am looking forward to the PASCO league contest this next weekend at Avenal. I doubt I'll be at 10k ft AGL, but it ought to be a good time nonetheless.
-Brian
(Peter Kelly - feel free to add any part of this in the VSA Soaring Diary if you like.)
------------------------------------------End@@ 29 May - 9 AM
Beginning@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Fri, 26 May 00 - 10 AM
While getting ready to post this diary, I received a note from Kenny at Williams - a report of good flying west of Williams yesterday - Thursday. Kenny also sent in a photo taken on that flight. (Kenny - that photo was 355kb in size, measuring 17 inches by 14 inches at a resolution of 72 (only 72 is used on computer screens in browsers), so if you could save such photos to less than a size of 50 k it would help save me some time. I reduced it to a 17 k photo). If you can't recopy it, then send in whatever you have, but I don't download files that are bigger than 400k.Here is Kenny's report, thank you Kenny, we all appreciate that you keep us up to date ----
--------------------------------------------
From: "Rex & Noelle Mayes" <soaring@colusanet.com>
To: "Peter Kelly-Community" <pjkelly@community.net>
Subject: Fw: Thurs. flight.
Date: Fri, 26 May 2000 07:54:21 -0700Peter,
Had a good flight with student pilot Ed Stein Thursday. The
shearline had been working most of the day in the hills, evident from the
shredded cloud formations over Walker ridge and Goat Mt. We towed to Bear
Valley and contacted shear lift to 8000 ft. and noticed wave clouds over
Snow Mt. With a strong north flow aloft, I was doubtful that we would be
able to penetrate upwind to contact the wave but with zero sink and
patience, it paid off over the Boys ranch to 10,000 ft. My student is a
paraglider pilot and I am learning alot from him as well. We ended up
turning Snow Mt., Elk Creek, Walker Ridge and home. Here is a photo of the wave and Snow Mt (taken on Thurs, 25 May).
Kenny
--------------------------------------------------------
End@@26 May 10 AMBeginning@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Fri, 26 May 00 - 8 AM
Well the weather certainly has broken. We could see that coming since last Sunday night by looking at the MRF 9 day loop of the 300 mb charts. However, when I make a comment about the forecast more than 48 hrs in advance, don't hold me to it, unless I broadcast regular updates as that targert date gets closer. It could have changed drastically, but I feel no obligation to keep you posted on changes - I just like to state the obvious sometimes, so you will look at those forecast charts a bit. Depending on the complexity/ dynamics of the systems, things often change quickly. If you have some forecasts; if you can see a favorable weather pattern developing, clue us in. Let's have some forecasts from some of you. It'd be nice to get a heads up from someone on a 500 km day, or 1,000 km day.We received two reports on Avenal. One from Steve S., the other from Gary K.
Here are the reports.------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 16:47:52 -0700
To: Peter Kelly <pjkelly@community.net>
From: steve smith <scsmith@mail.arc.nasa.gov>Hi Peter,
We had a challenging and enjoyable 4 contest days at
Avenal. I hope you can make it to fly that contest some time - its a load
of fun and its a unique soaring environment. The PASCO League is going to
Avenal in two weeks, and I anticipate similar weather.....Hot, hopping down
the shear line in a lift band between 1500 AGL and 3000 AGL, but with a
huge selection of very safe landing options.
Steve
------------------------------------------------and here is Gray's report
(it looks like I may have lost part of this msg somewhere, but here's what I have)------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 06:06:20 -0700
Subject: Avenal
From: Gary Kemp <gkemp@sunset.net>......Walt Rogers flew very well in Standard
Class and also Drew Pierce in Sports as evidenced by their wide margins of
victory. Mario Crosina won the 15 meter and I won Open. Claudio Ponti and
I were the only two that avoided landouts in the Opens. The first day saw
13 landouts of the 25 pilots and Day 3 saw 11. They were weak days which
saw very low operating levels. In Open we flew to Buena Vista, Coalinga and
return for about 182 very slow miles. I had a save after I had quit
searching for thermals and was searching for a landing spot, about 2-300
feet, don't recommend it. Day two for us, as well as Standard, 15 Meter was
to Taft and return for 144 miles. A fairly straight forward day, but not
much above 4500 feet. Speeds are slow because of handicapping and lift
----------------------------------With regards to this weekend, I can't go soaring, so I'm not even looking at the conditions, but I'll post what you send to me if I'm home. If I post it after the fact, I'll make the diary entry based upon the time on the msg you send to me. I've change formats a bit (@@@.....), so you can more easily distinguish each individual new posting. I hope it helps.
Oh, one more message- mostly an infomercial, but it local soaring info ...... and it is useful info.
-----------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 18:25:50 -0700
From: Charlie & Rosemary <crhayes@soar-palomino.com>Hello Air Sailing enthusiasts,
This is our form email to let you know that Palomino Valley Soaring is
ready for the soaring season with new additions to our fleet. We have a
1996 PW-5 and 1997 SZD 51-1 Junior, both in like new condition ready for
rental. Both gliders are single seat, fixed gear, with low to mid - 30ish
glide ratio's. Rental of these requires proof of competency in an ASK-21.Regards,
Charlie and Rosemary
----------------------------------------
End@@of entry for May 26Beginning@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Tue, 23 May 00 - 3 PM
Received two reports, one from Jim D, and the other from John K. Note on John's opening remark - it isn't "my diary" per se. I just do the editing and posting. I hope all of you think of it as YOUR Soaring Diary. I am just here to facilitate. Here are the reports -------------------------------------------------------------
From: James.S.Darke@us.mw.com
To: pjkelly@community.net
Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 13:12:23 -0700
Subject: WxPeter -
Just finished reading your whining about not getting any input from Key, so here
is something from me. Based on what I experienced flying out of Truckee on Saturday, I think your forecast for the Mendocinos was probably pretty good. I'll bet the area around Goat was working well.The lift started late, didn't launch until a little after 1300. Plenty of lift
in the blue (dry air mass) but there were clouds to well the south of
Bridgeport and over the western Sierra. Since I launched late, I turned around
south of Mt Patterson before I got to them and had a fairly easy time getting
home. Sergio launched earlier, made it to the clouds and came home over the
Sierra. Working altitude band was 11-15K. Most lift was in the 4-6knot range.The general flow was northerly but there seemd to be some intrusions of air with
easterly flow component. Definitely found some shear where this was occuring. At
Mt Siegel on the way home, I let a PIREP from Sergio lure me accross the valley
toward Freel Peak. Bad move on my part. Caught the down side of the shear and
wound up below the ridge line heading up towards Kingsbury grade. Normally, as
you know, this is a bad place to be. But there were bumps & with a
northerly/easterly wind it kind of felt right. No spill over the ridge line from
Tahoe. Sure enough at Kingsbury grade, caught 6 knots to 13K & final glide
across the lake, crossing Brockway at 8.5.
Regards,
Juan Bravo
-----------------------------------------------------------------and here is John K's report---
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 14:43:15 -0700
From: John Kahrs <kahrs@pixar.com>
To: pjkelly@community.net
Subject: Thursday, and a visit to MontaguePeter-
I just wanted to contribute a bit to your diary because I did have a
somewhat glider-y week last week.I played hooky this past thursday (May 18th)
and buzzed up to Williams. Wednesday (May 17th)
had looked ok, and I hoped thursday wouldn't be much worse,
inversion-wise. I was frustrated about missing the previous weekdays'
conditions and just felt like I had to get up there. When I drove over
to the trailer area, the only guy there was Sumner Davis and he was
already rigged. I messed around with the aft battery for a while until
Rex showed me the right way to get at it by removing the panel behind
the seat back. I wasted almost an hour on that one. They don't put that
stuff in the manual. By the time I got into the air it was three o'clock
and Sumner was already long gone- I had hoped to have a bit of guidance
going out towards Walker. I'd never been out there yet and I knew that
was about the only place to go on a day like that. The were a few cu
over Goat.I got off at 6000 and pushed out towards the north end of Indian
reservoir. I did find some lift fairly quickly. Rounding the first
circle, it was immediately clear that I was out further from any field
than I'd ever been before. I called for Lima Uniform (Sumner) and Rex
came on. "Lima Uniform came in and landed already, John". all right
then, I was on my own. I kept trying to push out to the ridges that
lead up to Goat. I had the feeling I was at the top of the lift band,
but was too chicken to leave the lift and go find some more. I got to
7000 just NNW of the reservoir, which felt good, then tried a little
further and got lower and lower. I was high enough to still get back,
but not low enough to really make a direct connection with terrain that
should've been producing lift. What I really wanted was to be led by the
hand by a string of thermals right up to the top of goat, perhaps
beyond, but it was not to be. Pretty formidable looking terrain. After
some more struggling, I moved back to three sisters, nothing much there,
and then back to WSC. Hour and a half. A frustrated Steve Ford was
there beside my trailer, apparently having spent the entire afternoon
trying convince his Genesis 2 to go together, but to no avail.Saturday, I drove up to Siskiyou County with my girlfriend. Neither of
us had seen Mt. Shasta before, so we decided to take a road trip. We
stopped at WSC on the way, and Rex advised us, "Don't take her to the
airport, or she'll never want to go back." Actually we did make it to
Montague and the airport around six p.m.. I wasn't all that impressed
with the towns on the way there, but suddenly you break out into this
incredible valley around Weed. It's an expansive area of meadows ringed
by mountains, and dominated on the south end by Mt. Shasta looming over
it. At Weed airport, which is adjacent to Rt. 5, there was a Blackhawk
helicopter wreck that had just been plucked off of Mt. Shasta earlier
that day. It was being loaded onto a flatbed. Soon we found Siskiyou
airport and decided to explore. We poked around the north end where
there are these neat cold war-era looking buildings there, probably from
when it was an active refueling station, with weather stations and
offices and metal desks inside. One has a bitchin' control panel on it
that looks straight out of Dr. Strangelove. We could see the gliders
sitting out there, and finally figured out how to get to them. I spoke
a little with Rich George, who has a Pegasus and was BBQ-ing chicken in
front of his RV. They just camp right there on the inactive runway,
leasing it from the county for 200 bucks a month. He invited me to do
the same if I ever visited again. He said they call up for tows from
Montague airport and the guy buzzes over. From what little web research
I did, there's been glider activity there since the mid seventies, and
it's probably been a stable average of 5 or so guys flying regularly
from there since then. He made a point of how safe it was, that there
were strips and full fledged airports scattered throughout the valley,
something that Carl Herold and Gary Kemp had emphasized in the Berkeley
PASCO seminar. With a little more support in there, that place could
rival Minden as a world class soaring location.I was glad to have explored instead of flying in the Sac valley, since
temperatures were insanely hot when we returned on Sunday afternoon.
Maybe next weekend will be good at Williams, as you've hinted in your
last diary entry.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ end of entry for May 23@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Mon, 22 May 00 - 9 AM
Back home again. Didn't receive any email from Key, so I guess I won't give him any more forecasts - I was willling to pay $25 (1/2 of the tow cost) just to have that report. But from what Rick tells us, the wind was somewhat stronger from the north than it was forecast to be on the surface, and the easterly flow at 5,000 ft was not unexpected, but is was probably generally light, looking at the 850 mb (5,000ft) charts on fri nite. I did receive a note from Rick that says Key didn't rig, and thus didn't tow to Goat, so we'll never know if the forecast was any good for the lift over goat. But based on rick's comments, I'd say we probably had 6 kts to 8,000 over the tree farm just east of goat, but to get past St John's would have been a struggle. Rick towed to Walker, which is a place that doesn't work with a north wind. With a north wind, the hot air never reaches Walker. The flow is obstructed by Snow, St Johns, and Goat to the north, and the hot air coming down the east side of the range past Indian Ranch is obstructed by the rising terrain, so the hot air never rises over Walker on that kind of day - i.e. forget Walker unless you have a flow from the SW(the hills to the west force the air over walker) , W(the air sweeps around those hills that are on the west of Walker- there is actually a convergence at the north end of Walker), or NW (it would then come in from lake Pilsburry area, and again be forced up walker by the hills to the west), but all the winds need always need a conducive upper air lapse rate to continue above ridge top level. Now Goat on the other hand is a good place to head towards. Release at 6,000 over the ridge junctions, just 1/2 mile SW of the ostrich farm runway(- but don't land there, use stonyford for the emergency landing, as there is a better chance of catching lift down low (below 3,000) just westsouthwest of stonyford on those north facing hills - besides you can get an aerotow from stonyford). Anyway, release at 6,000 and you can imagine the hot air on the surface is coming from the north past Diamond M, coming from the NE as it passes the high terrain of St Johns. There is a horizontal vorticity there, or eddy to the air flow, as it curls around the south end of St John's and it continues up Foust Springs creek, past Stonyford and is rising right in that area of the ridge junction - it'll be dry air, so few cu, until the air over the East Park Reservoir gets more of an easterly component then there'll be some moisture in the air, as it feed the hot trapped air from the sacto vly up towards goat. Later in the day, the cu will pop along some of the ridge north of goat as the inversion-trapped air in the sacto valley begins to be drawn in from the east, and it is carrying enough moisture to from cu's.Here is Rick's note, unedited:
--------------------------------------------
From: rickandkathryn@netzero.net
To: <pjkelly@community.net>
Subject: Report for Sat, May 20
Date: Sat, 20 May 2000 17:45:41 -0700Hi Peter,
I feel it's my moral obligation to let everyone's mind at ease if they were wondering if they should have been at Williams today (Sat, May 20). I launched at 1:30 and took a tow to Walker. Winds at the gliderport were from the North at 10-12 mph. All I found at the ridge were a few insignificant bumps. There was a control burn on the East side of the ridge and I played in the smoke for a while--never got above 5,000 ft. One peculiar note, the winds aloft were blowing from the East, as dictated by the smoke. Flight time was a little less than an hour. I was the only one to take a mountain tow--Key didn't bother to rig.
When I was leaving the gliderport at 4:00, some small cu were beginning to form several miles North of St. Johns. Driving home, some more popped up over the Berryessa area.
Sierras looked impressive. Looks like we went from Winter to Summer in a period of a week!
Regards,
Rick Ogden
------------------------------------------------Rick, thanks for the report. Everyone appreciates it when there is a new report to review, and it keeps everyone in the loop, and provides both continuity and closure- thank you from all of us. Since there were cu over the bessa area, and if the sierras looked impressive - as in cu showing over the hills, then the forecasted sounding charts were somewhat accurate. That is hopeful info, for future reference.
Last night I looked at the 9 day loop on the MRF at 300mb- as linked to my wx page. Friday looks good - cold air will be coming in and the upper air ought to be more unstable, and I wouldn't expect much cirrus with it, so the surface heating still ought to be high.
@@ end of entry for May 22@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Fri, 19 May 00 - 8:30 PM
Just had a call from my good buddy Key. He asked me to look at the wx for tomorrow, since he is considering going to Williams, so I looked, and here is what I found:
Flow is from the NNW, ridge of high pressure is still extending west to east across Oregon, causing that north flow (isobars bend towards the south). The good news is that at the lower levels - like 10 and 5,000 and below the wind is light and variable, and therefore subject to the local effects. So... expect the low in the valley to be sucking the wind up from the south into the williams area. (No lift in the valley above 2,000 ft till late in the day) Further, expect the hills to be heating up pretty good and being fed by the obvious inversion of trapped air in the sacto vly, the windsock at Williams may even be light from the southeast - even though the flow aloft is from the north. Projecting my best guess onto the soundings, and the charts, I'd say we ought to get to the low 90's at Williams, and about 84 degrees at 3,000 over Stonyford, and therefore, 6 kt thermals to 10,000 over Goat. That 's my best guess.Key. Let's have a full report. Take a mountain tow about 1 PM let's hear what you find! I may revise this at 8 AM, but if I don't, and you don't find it as I have forecasted it to be, then I'll pay for half the tow! signed, Peter.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed, 17 May 00 - 10 PM
I know, I should get a life. But I gotta share this with you. We haven't had too many reports from Avenal or Hollister, so when we get one, it's a big deal. If you aren't too sick of hearing about last Thursday, read yet another report. Here is a msg I received from Ramy:---------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 17:21:21 -0700
From: Ramy Yanetz <ramyyanetz@aol.com>
To: pjkelly@community.net, milt@webbnet.com
Subject: Hollister Mad Dash RecordHi Pete,
Thursday the 11th was indeed a great day. In the following link you can
find the story of my flight from Hollister, as published in the avenal
web site.It is interesting to see how similar was my experience to Milt's flight
from Williams the same day.http://www.soaravenal.com/051300a.htm
Ramy Yanetz
--------------------------------
And, just in case you still aren't interested in going to that link, here is the summary that I cut and pasted from the end of that story by Ramy. It was a two day flight, departed Hollister, and landed landed at Tehachapi, spent the night, and the next day (friday the 12th) flew back to Avenal. Ramy has a map attached to the story to show you the flight path -pretty interesting. here's the summary:----------------------------------------------
Summary:Hollister mad dash straight distance to Tehachapi: 207.5 miles.
Dog leg distance via New Cuyama: 238 miles.
Flight time: 7 hours and 15 minutes.
Tehachapi to Avenal straight distance: 114 miles.
Dog leg distance via Grapevine: 131 miles.
Flight time: 3 hours and 45 minutes.
Ramy Yanetz
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed, 17 May 00 - 9 PM
Yeh, I saw all the nice clouds today, and yes I said it didn't look good for the next ninedays, but I was talking about long crosscountry flights, ones where the pilot reports having flown more than a hundred or two miles, not short ones. I should have qualified my remarks. Sorry about that. I've been spoiled lately with good conditions. Kenny from Williams was quick to set the record straight. Here is Kenny's msg, and congrats to Bill for his longest flight ever.:----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 16:14:39 -0700
To: pjkelly@community.net
Subject: Soaring @ Williams.Hi Pete,
conditions at Williams today were fairly decent with thermal
lift to 4500 in the valley and cloud bases to 8300' in the mountains,
Although the north wind blew, Bill Carrington flew the Pegasus and had
his best flight ever with a 3 + hr. flight.
Tommorow shows promise because of more heating in the mountains but the
inversion is starting to creep back in the valley, oh well, thats summer
time for you!
Regards, Kenny.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed, 17 May 00 - 9 AM
Had a couple of emails that prompted me to look at the fcst. Doesn't look good for the next 9 days. Just my opinion - prove me wrong - go out there and do some good flights! Better yet, if you have a soaring forecast, send it in, I'll publish it for all to see here on the soaring diary page. Even if I don't get it on the net in a timely fashion, I'll tell everyone after the fact that you did a good forecast - if it was in fact good.Speaking of good flights - here's another one from last Thursday the 11th - remember, that's the day I said was going to be spectacular (I said that the night before, Wednesday). Here is the report from Milt Hare:
------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 07:52:44 -0700
From: Milton Hare <milt@webbnet.com>
To: pjkelly@community.netHi Pete,
Launched around 3pm (Thursday, May 11) in Rex's Pegasus (earliest I could possibly make it, believe me).
Released 4,000 at 3 sisters, got down to 3,300 and worked hard
for the next 1.5 hours to work over to Walker ridge at about 4,500 while
admiring the 8,000 foot very flat bases that seemed to be everywhere except
over 3 sisters. To make matters worse, JJ and Gary were reporting their
progress as they flew around at mach 3 all day. I finally stopped looking
for that 10 knot thermal I was hoping for and slowly climbed in 2 knots to
7,000 or so, then went south (rain to the north). Hit 8 knots about a mile
away (great). Headed south at 8,000 plus, found more thermals and ended up
climbing to cloudbase at 10,000, with 10 knots indicated a few times on the
way up - wow - this was more like it. At this point, I could just about
glide to Nut Tree with no lift, and there were cu's lined up down the
ridge - time to make some tracks!On the way south to Berryessa, I realized that I could see the ocean on one
side, and the Sierras on the other - talk about spectacular! I flew south
dolphin style at 9 to 10,000 feet. Clouds started dying off to the south.
I turned back north when I got to the last good cloud a bit north of
Berryessa at 7,000 feet or so. The clouds were starting to dissipate a bit
at this point (around 5:30) and I headed straight for Williams until I found
some good lift about halfway there. I turned back towards Walker ridge, got
there at 5,000 or so, worked some weak lift there for 30 minutes or so, then
headed back to Williams, landing at 7pm. The big birds had landed earlier,
after flying 300 miles plus. I estimate my flight was somewhere around 100
miles, although it seemed like less. Flying around that high makes
everything seem pretty close.The next day I flew from Palo Alto to Montana in a P210, and there was 1,000
fpm lift with 15,000 foot plus cloudbases most of the way there. Same on
the way back the following Monday (we actually gained 1,500 feet in one
cloud street). Next time I'll take proper equipment - like a motorglider.- Milt
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue, 16 May 00 - 11 AM
Today looks dismal for soaring. High is setting up along the coastline - giving us a northerly flow, and everything is wet, and low sratus looks evident thru mid day today. Tomorrow will at least be sunny - don't know if the lapse rate will be any better, but I might give it a try.I was thinking about my report I wrote yesterday - I failed to mention lots of things, so here's some more -and, we can add other stuff if you send it to me...
At the BBQ on sat nite, Rex took the floor for a few seconds, and commented on the Doc Mayes Trophy. I didn't catch it all, the essence is-
The Trophy is presented to the pilot who flys the most number of cumulative miles over this three day weekend. The Trophy was sponsored by the Valley Soaring Association, and Steve Irving was commissioned to design and build it. He did a beautiful job! The base is a dark, heavily grained wood, highly polished, and cut on several angles. Atop that is a two and a half foot long spiraling piece of driftwood in light and dark brown colors - the driftwood signifies a thermal. In the drift wood are two sets of glider wings spiraling upward in the thermal. A spectacular design - and very creative. Plans are to keep it at Williams during the year, rather than let it circulate, so as to maintain the beauty of it - which is a good idea. Each year the name of the winner will be engraved on a brass name plate and attached to the base.The Peterson Trophy, sponsored by the Chico Club and PASCO, was not on site at the BBQ, but it will be next year. That is awarded to the pilot who has the best single flight during this three day period.
Bob Ireland, President of the VSA, introduced the "Low Tech" Award - presented to the pilot who accomplishes a notable flight with the minimum use of high tech equipment. The award itself was comosed of two tomato cans and connecting string for communications, and a road map for navigation. This year it was awarded to Kenny Price for his flight in the K21 to Alder Springs and return, without radio, gps, or even a battery.
Bob also convened a general membership meeting of the VSA, complete with a treasurers report (there is some money in the bank), rolling of the dice for the Membership Attendance Dawing (MAD) money (Marv McM. was not present and thus didn't win), Secretaries Report (expect another newsletter soon - be sure your membership is paid so you receive the next edition ($10 / year) send it to Cindy D, or Noelle at WSC - payable to VSA). The next VSA meeting is expected to be in two months time, and the one after that will be Octoberfest.
If I think of more items I left out, I'll add them on the next entry - if you have any thing to add, send it to me--- pjkelly@community.net
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mon, 15 May 00 - 10 AM
The end of an exhausting weekend. It started on Friday. As soon as I arrived at the gliderport, I rounded the corner of the office hangar, and saw the two big ships, NK and JJ, parked on the opposite side of the runway - with their tail feathers in the tall grass. They were resting now, but I just knew their long wings had been flexing all day the day before. Sure enough, I wasn't out of the car more than a few minutes and I heard that JJ and Elden had flown over 300 miles, as did Gary K. I knew on Wednesday night it was going to be the day to fly, but you can't be at the gliderport every day, and I had to be there on Fri, Sta, Sun for the big contest(s). It was a shame the weather didn't coincide with the flying schedule. Before I tell you about the weekend, let's review three message we received ( Kahrs, Hinkle, Kemp). First is the report by John K, telling us about the PASCO League from the previous weekend, then the others follow. I had been away the previous weekend, and hadn't realized the weather had been so miserable on the 6th and 7th. Here is John's msg:
(Please note his testimonial to the value of the PASCO League for less experienced pilots. The PASCO League serves a good pupose, and is obviously functioning well - thanks to Tony for putting it together this year and to the FBO's who support it and to the Pundits who serve as team captains and share their knowledge with the less experienced.)(btw John, I think thursday was certainly in the top ten best days of the year - sorry you missed it, as did I)
-----------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 19:10:28 -0700
From: John Kahrs <kahrs@pixar.com>
To: pjkelly@community.net
Subject: Today killed me . . .
. . . because I was at work all day. Damn it looked good.K-
I'm debating on playing hooky tomorrow. I get in this state of mind
where I have myself convinced that "This is the best soaring day of the
year!", although I wonder if today is one of those days when it actually
might be true. It looked great from my office window.It's amazing that you can specifically predict cirrus coming in on Sat
afternoon. I've been looking at the forecast discussions and then going
through your weather links, and it's slowly starting to make sense. I
particularly like the navy satellite imagery of Northern CA. I have a
Silicon Graphics computer at work tied directly to a T1 connection (it's
amazing anyone gets any work done here), and I can load up full sized
animated loops of the entire day's activity. I'm looking at today's loop
right now. Anywhere it's not flat, there are cu billowing from Eureka to
central Nevada.I did go to the PASCO contest last weekend. Even though I hadn't signed
up for a team, and I didn't even really try to compete, I learned a lot
because the event was framed in the form of a contest, however loosely,
and I had never done anything like that. My first lesson learned was:
don't be late. While I was wrestling with the wing pins, everyone else
was rigged and the pilots' meeting had already started. Sailplane racing
must be one of the only sports where the rules are defined and agreed
upon an hour or so before the contest begins. The task was basically:
tow out to Three Sisters and do whatever you can. Ready, set, Go!For a little while there were lennies over the airport which soon
deteriorated into a gray mass of approaching drizzle. About a dozen
pilots garnered the enthusiasm to participate, and Rex matched that by
firing up all three towplanes. I was one of the last to take off, right
behind Steve Smith (on his coattails again), and we were in light rain
almost immediately. Steve released about 2/3 of the way to 3 sisters and
I got off right behind him. Having never flown in rain, and not knowing
how my glider's performance is degraded by it, I just came back and
landed. I was the last one up and the first one down. I spoke to Steve
later and it was such a surprise hearing his gleeful perspective about
the day. I think he was up for nearly an hour, longer than anyone else:
"The rain? I don't know, I didn't mind it after a while. I guess I
just got used to it."
"I thought the clouds looked pretty ominous", I said.
"Oh, today everything looked ominous. You know that cloud just south
of three sisters? That was lift! The cold front was pushing up thermals
on it's way in. I saw some gliders over there. Turns out one was Sumner,
and it was good lift!"He went on to describe finding a cloud street somewhere in that muck.
Amazing how happy he was about the day with his LS-6 soaking in the rain
outside. So while I didn't do anything stupid, I didn't challenge myself
all that much. Just being involved in the structure of a contest,
however small, informal or rainy, was enough adventure for the day. In
that regard, I'd say PASCO was fulfilling its mission of getting
beginner pilots to the next level very well indeed. Even if it rains
next time, at least I won't be late.jk
--------------------------------------------Here is the msg from Elden (sent to us at 25 minutes after midnight on Thurs):
---------------------------------------------
From: EHinkle@aol.com
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 00:03:25 EDT
Subject: Good Flight
To: pjkelly@community.netPete,
JJ and I had another great flight out of Williams today (Thursday). Launched
around 12:00, towed to the second ridge and climbed up to cloud base, around
8500' and headed north. We got abeam of Paskenta and run into some rain and
decided it look better south. Joined up with Kemp and headed to Beryessa Dam
where we turned to Calistoga and on to Lampson. From there we crossed Clear
Lake heading North and got up along side and above the clouds at 10,500 at
Alder Springs we headed back to Williams, landed around 5:30, Kemp landed
hour later he may have gone further but he also had three flights today but
that story he will have to tell. What a great day, in one thermal we were
averaging 11kts to cloud base. Hope this weekend is as good.Elden
----------------------------------------And here's Gary's report about the same day (sent to us at 8 min + 49 sec. past midnight on Thursday):
-----------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 07:08:49 -0700
Subject: The 11th
From: Gary Kemp <gkemp@sunset.net>
To: <pjkelly@community.net>Yeah, you should have been here yesterday. Williams was good as usual.
John Sinclair and Elden Hinkle took off in their ASH 25 with new winglets at
about 11:45, flying North to near Paskenta before I could get my various
problems (stuck spoileron on right wing, dumped water, landed and second
tow, couldn't stay up in the Valley) were solved and I joined them near
Fouts Springs, we flew to Berryessa Dam, Calistoga, Lampson, back North to
Alder (JJ) and I to Anthony Peak, Indian Reservoir and return. JJ for 325
miles, NK for 305 miles. Lift excellent, cloud base 8-9000 feet (10500
highest), temperature 25 degrees at altitude. It was just pushing, pulling
and giggling.Gary
---------------------------------------------Well that's it for past messages.If you have any announcements or weather prediciton of good soaring days coming up, then the msg to me, and you will go on record as having joined the group who can predict soaring days - at least sometimes, and are willing to take the risk of putting your prediction out there for all to see!!! (not an easy thing to do) (Especially for a pilot. As Milt said the other day - "There is no such thing as a humble pilot - it's just that some of you/us try harder than others to try to appear humble" - ain't that the truth!). Now, back to the debrief of this past weekend.
So, I got there on Friday, and it was looking lousy. The cirrus clouds were already moving in. It wasn't going to be a fast day or a far day. I bs'd with Key about the wx, and Gary came over to talk about it. I was more obnoxious than usual - yes, it's possilbe with little effort, and Gary reverted to bullying tactics, but I shared some of my "secrets" of how to read the sounding, and pressure charts, etc, but concluded with telling him where to find all that on that same info on my web pages, so he bullied me some more. I finally began to rig, found out that Rex had taken back that loaner GPS that was in my cockpit, and just then the Steve speeds towards me in the golf cart and hands me my own GPS just a few minutes off the UPS truck- just back from Cambridge- No explaination attached as to why it kept going "unsealed", but it was working now. So I took my panel apart and installed it - I download my flight info via a lap top and the plug on the side of the panel, so I never take the GPS out of the ship.
By the time I finished that and had everything else done, there were already several people out there already logging the miles. I was listening on the radio as I got ready to go. Gary had gone south, Key venture a bit south but then decided north was better. Some towed out, but went nearly straight back, because it wasn't that great. I took a tow to Walker, and already knew from the others where all the lft was located. From Walker I went to Goat, then .......St John, Alder, Lets, Anthony, Snow, Alder, St John, Goat, Ridge Rd, WSC - a total of 5 hrs and 20 minutes, 260 miles at 48 mph - enough to win the Peterson Trophy. Everyone hates doing laps like that - especially the big boys. JJ went home early, and NK followed him a bit later. Key was making good time, and Rex was also going for the win, so I wasn't going make it wasy on either of them - besides I was comfortable and having a good time, I had lunch and lots to drink onboard, and the temp was OK. I knew it'd be close because I had the worst handicap penalty. I tried hard to get into wave up near Anthony, but it was induced by the upper level winds riding over the lower level air that were more southerly, and I couldn't get above 10,000 ft. Rex and Key were just a few miles short of my handiapped distance for the day.
Saturday was overcast and flat. It started out looking so bad that NK decided to derig at 9 AM - but we all helped him, so it took more than two hours longer than ususal - but we all enjoyed the story telling. That morning was a highlight of the weekend - I love hearing those stories about the other adventures. We all enjoyed being part of it. The same thing happened on Saturday night after dinner, and at breakfast the next morning. Dolly Frauens and Dick Carter were telling stories over breakfast at Granzella's. All of us, including Cindy, Key, Bob I., enjoyed the reminiscing. Apparently George Congdon is still doing OK - we were talking about his launching off of Mt Diablo back in the 40's - he showed us the films at a VSA meeting in Vacaville back in the 80's. We recounted lots of other of those old north bay soaring club members who are still around. That North Bay Club is something that is a part of our national soaring heritage - I think it started back with Les Arnold at Fremont in the 1930's. It ought to be one of those "National Landmarks of Soaring" - like you read about in the May 2000 issue of SSA's maginzine - SOARING. Speaking of Les - he was over at Williams last week- still doing OK. I wish someone would make a "Landmark" out of that Fremont site. That ought to be a PASCO Project. Our regional soaring council should spend our dues money on that project (I say that as if they had a lot of money - but I know they don't have it, or the manpower) we need more volunteers!!!
Back to Sat AM- I pulled up the wx and told those guys it would probably clear mid afternoon, and that I would be taking a tow at 1:30. A few others went first, but they came right back. I finally towed off at 2:30ish. Key followed and then Rex. I was up about 1+40, but only covered about 40 miles. Rex had the fastest ad furthest for the day. I am assuming Rex flew late on Sunday - after the weather finally cleared, and he probably won the Doc Mayes Trophy. If he didn't I'll be disappointed. All the rest of us went home early on Sunday because the rain was coming, and we kinda gave up on the weekend at that point. It was Mother's Day. There was talk about having the contest the weekend before mother's day next year. I think that would be a good idea. I'd like to see more people have the opportunity to participate. Life is short. Gotta set priorities to get it all in. I'm afraid that Mother's day is going to take a higher priority than even soaring next year. I hope it gets changed to a different weekend in 2001.
Saturday night was the BBQ. Marsha put alot of work into the dinner, as did Noelle, Jan, Elden, and lots of others. Jim D had the computer projection screen set up, so we watched a few replays of some flights, and Bob K. bought in the cult classic - Dawn Flight. What a great movie. If you haven't seen it, and you fly sailplanes, you gotta see it. Incredible flying. And there is even a message to it. The message can't be read or heard by those who aren't familiar with meeting personal challenges such as being the best glider pilot you can be - but those of you who strive to be so, can see the complex story line. It's just toooo much. Kenny says its on video tape also.
Well that 's the report for the weekend. My vacation ends this week, so I won't be doing a lot more writing on the diary in the coming months, but I will post what you send to me. so please take a few minutes (hours?) and compose your feeling and chronicles of your soaring adventures. I am constantly reminded of the many people who read this Diary, and it is always a better diary if it is composed of reports from others. I won't have the time to do a lot more writing, but i will take the time to post your stories. send them in. I'll try to update some of the other web pages Tips, and Weather, etc. from time to time in order to keep them current.
Speaking of web page updates, I plan on revising the database for Williams in the next few days/weeks/months of so, as well as the weather page. Also, I need to revise the truckee/ minden, asi pages and put "s" for the attributes near the field - I now realize you need the "start" attribute in the file, at the TP you plan to use as a start - or you can't run the task inflight. I'll be revising them over the next few weeks, but don't know when or if John Leibacher will be able to pick them up (for the SSA pages).
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Thurs, 11 May 00
wasn't today exceptionally good? did you review any of the wx products? high vertical vorticity at 10,000 from bay area to sierras. See the sat photos during the day? Cu's were ringing the sacto vly. The minden soaring fcst showed 14 kt thermals to over 18,000 I hope someone was there to enjoy them, and I hope tomorrow is at least half as good.Received an important msg from NK -- here it is:
-------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 06:24:31 -0700
Subject: Contest
From: Gary Kemp <gkemp@sunset.net>
To: Peter Kelly <pjkelly@community.net>Peter, Could you send out through your mailing list and Diary that we are
postponing the Region 11 North Contest at Siskiyou County to August
30-September 4. They have scheduled the paving of the runway for June 1-25,
and I have never known county governments to get anything done early.
Thanks, Gary
----------------------------
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Thursday 11 Mar 00
This is the date of the first entry in this volume of the Soaring Diary. There have been no weather forecasts received from anyone. There have been no reports about the PASCO League event that was held last week at Williams. There have been no recent flight reports - however, we did receive a report from Karl about a flight he had in early April, but it was lost in cyberspace for the past month or so. It is Karl's first report, and it is a good one, so I will print it at the end of this entry.The next three days are the big ones for Williams in the springtime! Beginning on Friday - which I expect to be the best day of the three, the contest begins. Weather is expected to be exceptionally good. (I base that on todays sounding - which indicate thermals everywhere today-- but spaced far apart. The air is dry today (few cu), but thermals will be over 8,000 ft in the valley. Considering the flow pattern, it ought to be almost as good tomorrow. On Saturday I'd expect to see high cirrus as the low apporaches us from the WNW. Don't have a time frame, as I just took a quick look at the charts last night for a few minutes, but they indicated the mid-level clouds ought to be here by Sunday morning, but those charts didn't extend any further.
The contest these next three days is two-fold. The age-old Chico distance Camp is all three days, and the winner is the pilot who flys the longest single flight during those three days - that winner takes home the Peterson Trophy. The other portion of this contest is the Doc Mayes Contest. This new trophy is awarded to the pilot who flys the greatest number of total cumulative miles during this three day period - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And remember, I am telling you that tomorrow- Friday, is going to be the best of the three days! I wish I could be out there today (Thurs), but I have to stay home and do chores.
We received this notice from Ty about an important upcoming event. Everybody says it's the best.
---------------------------------------------------------
From: Tyler White <tywhite@a.crl.com>
Subject: Air Sailing ContestThe Year 2000 Air Sailing Sports Class Contest is a little over two
months away! If you are planning to compete, or are even thinking of
competing, please let me know so that I can begin to plan the
logistics.There will be 5 contest days in the time period from Monday, June 26
though Saturday, July 1. Practice day is Sunday, June 25. This is
an SSA-Sanctioned Regional Sports Class Competition. The contest fee
will be $280.This is a great first contest, held in a friendly environment with
lots of folks who will help you take this step. For more experienced
pilots, the competition is always intense.For more information, please contact:
Ty White
41600 Marigold Drive
Fremont, CA 94538
(408) 616-8379 w, (510) 490-6765 h, tywhite@a.crl.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------In other news, we received this report from John K:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 01 May 2000 13:29:17 -0700
From: John Kahrs <kahrs@pixar.com>
Subject: GPS SA degradation to be turned off tonight]]Peter-
I just got this in my mailbox. I wish I'd brought my Volkslogger home
with me so I could see if the accuracy changes over.jk
-------------
> A press release from the White House this morning says that GPS Selective
> Availability, the intentional degradation of civilian GPS signals compared
> to the accuracy available to the US military, will be turned off tonight
> at midnight US Eastern Time. At that time, civilian receivers will have
> full accuracy previously only available to the US military.
>
> This story is already all over the news and you'll see even more of it...
>
> http://www.whitehouse.gov/library/PressReleases.cgi?date=0&briefing=0
> http://slashdot.org/articles/00/05/01/130250.shtml
>
------------
-------------------------------------------------------And here is Karl's excellent and interesting report:
-------------------------------------------
Reply-To: "Karl Brummet" <brummit@thegrid.net>
From: "Karl Brummet" <brummit@thegrid.net>
To: <pjkelly@community.net>
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 18:30:52 -0700Headed to Williams late (9am) with a 10-15 kt tailwind from the north along the highway as I drove in. I didnt think I would fly with that north wind, but NK pulls in about 1/2 Hr later, sets up and takes his usual tow to 150 ft over some sidewalk in Williams (well,...not realy) and climbs up to the first ridge and is gone.
So, after some proding from Kenny, I launched at 2:30 in the Junior and towed to 2000, got to practice some slackline practice, released in 4-5 kt lift. Spotted a dust devil and headed for it - to a solid 5 kt lift. Bob Carrington joined me in the ASW-20 but didn't climb as high. I took it to 5000 then got bold (stupid?) and tried to find somthing closer to the airport, should have stayed there. Had mostly sink all the way back but did a great north landing when I got back. Stayed up for about an hour - which was good for me .
Gary was at Weaverville when I landed. Maybe he will share that story with us. Glad to hear about your flight on Sunday. I let others have the aircraft on Sunday, and I just crewed that day. Well that's my report. See you later.
Karl B (you know , the guy thats always hanging out at the gliderport)
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