Bellyache/ Aug. 25th,'08

Another great day at Bellyache. Unfortunately for the monsoon the sky is quickly developing with Cu-nims, but is making for excellent instability and great morning thermal conditions.

I launched about 10:30 a.m. this morning and went over to the west ridge. I was skeptical to get up because we did not see many soaring birds this morning and the ones we did see were flapping away. Once over to the west ridge, I worked some scappy thermals that were poorly organized and managed to get about 100 fpm on the vario. After a few figure 8's I got above the ridge and was able to core a broken thermal with 400 fpm to about 9,300 msl. It seemed there was a low ceiling that hadn't broken yet and was boating around for about 5 minutes not finding anything more.

At this point I decided to go over to Prouty point and managed to find more broken thermals to about 10,800 msl. Damn another ceiling and by now it was blowing over the back at launch and the thermal drift was definitely going toward the east. I decided to make it over to the Wolcott launch site and arrived there at about 9,350 msl. It's really a little early for Wolcott to work but was able to find some light thermals back to 9,800 msl. By now the winds were definitely coming from the southwest, and at Bellyache out of the northwest. I then made my way back to the bellyache LZ and landed after a nice hour flight.

It's great to get these soaring flights even though the valley inversion doesn't allow huge heights, but never the less the air has a sporty feel to it with alot of mixing which really helps dialing in the glider. Let's hope it keeps being this good.

Cheers, Greg

In Vail/ Aug. 24th, '08

Flying has been awesome in the Vail area. Wolcott and Bellyache have been giving it up for long soaring flights with some good heights.

With the unstable air due to the monsoon circulating moisture under the high pressure, Bellyache has had soarable conditions by 10 am yesterday and today.

Dan, a visiting pilot from Steamboat, had his personal best flying at Wolcott Friday, getting up to 16,000 and getting nausea to boot. But he still came in with a big smaile on his face.

Next weekend is the Steamboat fly-in over Labor day. This is a great end of summer bash, with hang glider and paraglider pilots having fun.

I will keep you posted as more significant flights happen here in the Vail area.

Cheers

Back in Vail

Hey Everyone, just got back to Vail on the 19th, and Wolcott and Bellyache are showing great flying conditions. Yesterday (19th), four of us went up Wolcott, anticipating marginal flight conditions. It was light and variable with cycles coming from the northeast as much as south and the occasional cycle from the west. Once we got to launch, conditions did look better, but still very light with winds not much stronger then 8 mph.

Bobby launched in a southwest cycle and climbed to about 500 feet over launch with not much effort. So everyone was hopeful. I layed out, and launched in a similar cycle, but began sinking right off launch. So it was time to head toward the landing zone. I felt some small bubbles but not much that I could turn in. The winds at this point were mostly south so really there wasn't much dynamic lift to soar in waiting for the right thermal.

About half way to the landing zone I found a bubble decent enough to turn in. A slow climb with the drift heading straight north, but I was climbing in about 200 fpm lift. Once about even with the ridge, the thermal got much stronger and the climb was about 500 fpm. At about 10,500 feet there must have been a small inversion as the climb got weaker yet again, and the thermal was moving around, but kept climbing slowly with the broken lift. Finally after about 500 feet of slow climbing, the thermal organized again and it was easy climbing at about 600 fpm to 16,000 msl.

Excellent conditions to do a nice triangle around the valley, gliding to the top of Bellyache ridge, getting there at about 11,300 msl, and then gliding back to Wolcott launch. It was getting late at this point, but it was still working. Found another climb north of launch again to about 11,500 msl. Heading to the landing zone, it seemed the lift shut down, but heading over Raven point I found another climb to 11,000 msl. in smooth light thermals.

A nice flight for a weak lift day.

This morning even Bellyache was nice, but became soarable late. Launching about 11:30 a.m. found a nice climb on the west ridge to the north of launch. A nice easy climb to 10,500 msl. and a nice tour around the Wolcott area.

It looks like the weather is going to be awesome into the weekend with some afternoon showers today. I will update on the conditions each day we fly.

Cheers!

More Pics from Chelan

Now that I am back in Colorado, the monsoon has really kicked in. Right now the Vail area is seeing the most precipitation it has all summer. Go figures it was good flying here while I was in Chelan.

So, here are some more pics from the comp. If you look closely you may even see a dust devil in one of the pics on plains. I will be in Maine from Sunday the 10th until Monday the 18th visiting family. I will update the blog when I get back. Cheers!

Day 6

The last day really, truly, shined, as Chelan finished on a high note for epic conditions. With an excellent lapse rate, cloud base between 10,000 and 11,000 feet, the task commitee took advantage of the conditions and called a 118.4 km triangle. Light winds aloft really made this possible.

I launched about 11:50 a.m. and the start was called for 12:40 p.m. It was an easy climb out as a perfect cloud was forming right over the butte at 9,000 feet. We had the usual gaggle hanging out above the butte and many times we had to leave the cloud so we did not climb into it. Just before the start ironically the cloud dissapated and the climbs got weaker, and we left the butte on task at about 8,500 feet. It was much easier making it over the flats with that altitude.

The first turn point was a farm called Farmer. It was about 25 km from the butte. Cloud base was getting higher as the day progressed, and reaching Farmer was not too much of a problem. It was easy to stay between 8,000 feet and 10,000 feet while on glide. From Farmer to Leahy, it became more difficult, as there was a big blue hole. I got low at one point, about a 1,000 feet above the deck, and had to slow down and wait for something to come through. I circled in zero sink for about 15 minutes waiting for a descent climb to come through. Funny as there were many dust devils to the west, and they weren't drifting much due to the light winds. Melanie Pfister had the lowest save I saw during the comp. In the same area she was no more the 200 feet over the deck and climbed out. Our thermals met and we both climb out to 10,000 feet and we were in business again.

When I finally made Leahy I was graced with a thermal right over the turn point. Other pilots weren't so lucky as I saw maybe 4 pilots get drilled near the turn point. From the last turn point to goal it was still over 40 km, and I thought we are heading into the wind, the work is really starting now, but was still getting good speed on trim and with half speed bar about 15 kph more.

What was nice, with this being my sixth flight on my new glider, it felt good to dial it in and get truly acquainted with its handling.

By this time on the final leg of the task, it was getting late. I had been in the air four hours already, and fatigue began to set in. At this point making goal was a priority no matter how long it took. Even if I came into goal after it closed I was going to finish the triangle. So, with the pilots being spread out all over the flats, I was flying the last leg alone most of the way, which made for easy thermaling and no stress about racing to goal. The air became much smoother and the climbs definitely weaker. It was interesting flying through the strongest part of the day into the late afternoon thermals as you could feel the difference in strength and turbulence.

I began final glide into goal about 13 km out, and with the height I had was just able to squeak by the rim of the Columbia river valley into goal at Chelan Falls Park. 6 hours and 6 minutes in the air, 118.4 km triangle. By far my longest duration flight, and my longest triangle, and my secondest longest distance.

Doesn't matter how I scored the fun and camaraderie was there. Time to look forward to the Nationals in the Owens Valley in Bishop, California. Time to head back to Colorado. Cheers.

Day 5

Well, another blown out day. Winds are forecast to be gusting to 30 mph through the day today. We all met at the LZ, and didn't even load the gliders and go up the mountain. Tomorrow looks much better for the last day.