If I had only woken up earlier...
Marginal Mark called me at 7:45 saying Ed Levin was already soarable...I already had my glider on the truck, but had a feeling we had already missed some sweet conditions given the rains were on their way. Anyway, Mark said he'd drive my truck up if I can hustle my way to the hill, so that I did.
Wayne Michelsen had the same idea as he could see Ed Levin from his roof top on the other side of the bay...we were both in the LZ at the same time and headed up to the top with Mark.
We off-loaded the gliders and set up rapidly and were ready to go within about 20 to 25 minutes. When it was time to launch, the rain had reached San Jose Airport. Winds at launch were 18 to 20 mph and smooth.
I was first to launch and had an elevator ride up to about 500 above launch in no time...Wayne was soon to follow. We boated around for a few minutes, then I saw Wayne making a beeline away from the ridge...there was lift everywhere and the rain had already presented itself, as well. I made one last pass above launch, then chased after Wayne. The wall of rain at the airport was working its way northeast toward us as another wall of rain made itself known just south and behind launch...there was also rain above Mission Ridge...my face shield had rain all over it...it was time to get down.
I stuffed the bar and made it through some textured layers of air with little hassle, then was on the ground in a calm LZ after only 10 minutes of airtime...Wayne was soon to follow.
At first I was kicking myself for pulling the plug so early, but there was a reason I chose to get on the ground so soon...it was raining!
The rain had subsided for a bit in the LZ, but surrounding areas still looked like a fair amount of development was going on. Within 1 minute of getting my glider tied onto my truck, the rains came with a little more force. Overall, I'd call that pretty good timing to have decided to launch, fly for 10 minutes, land, break down the glider and get it on the truck before really getting wet.
Flight time: 12 minutes
A lot can happen in only twelve minutes of flight time...