I grabbed my glider and began setting up. Within a few minutes, local pilots Mark and Kim arrived with Brent, their driver for the day. I felt a little more at ease to have some local folks present for my maiden flight at Crestline...
First pic of the flight toward the back of Crestline...Kim launched first, then Mark...they were up in no time, so I grabbed my glider real quick and, with Wendy on wire assist, was up in the air to join them.
Andy Jackson Flight Park is the green patch of land below my wingtip...The air was a mix of ridge lift and broken thermals, plus there was a little texture to the conditions, but no death grip needed for today's flight.
Right off launch I got well above the ridge line with Mark and Kim. I did have one low save between Crestline and Marshal launch, managing to find a nice little boomer that got me back above ridge height again...that was one of a few high points in this flight.
After about an hour of ridge soaring, I decided to head out to Marshal and was rewarded with smoother thermals and more enjoyable ridge lift. I boated back and forth, extending each glide to the outer reaches of what the ridge had to offer. Toward the 2-hour mark of the flight, I could feel the conditions begin to glass-off, but there was still a ridge lift and thermal component to contend with, as well. The air was a mixing bag of stuff to play with on this flight.
After a couple low save thermals, I decided to head on down to the LZ for a nice first landing at Crestline...looking forward to what the next few days have to offer here.
Flight Time: 2 hours, 26 minutes
Altitude: 6072' MSL
I can now offically add Crestline to my list of flying sites...