Rolling the dice on McClure today seemed like a good idea, so I headed out for a day trip in between the rains hoping for a decent flight. I hadn't been to McClure for quite a while and needed to refill my soul with...well...with McClure!
Will, KM and I had the entire site to ourselves with a few other locals, Jimmy, Chuck, and Jerrod offering to drive for us today.
While we were setting up, the clouds started to develop a little more and things were looking good...As I was setting up and getting my harness ready, I noticed I had forgotten the battery to my camera...good omen...it was going to be a good flying day.
KM launched first and was getting up in the south bowl...Will launched second, found not much to the north, then was getting up in the south bowl, as well. It was a launch and turn left kind-of day, so I followed everyone to the south bowl.
This was a really rewarding flight because I was working stuff that was not being handed to me on a silver platter. For the first 40 minutes I'd get above launch a few hundred feet, then get below launch a few hundred feet, then above launch again.
My persistence paid off with reaching cloud base at a little over 3000 MSL.
The eagles were out today, also, and it was fun to see KM working with them in the south bowl on his return trip from Horseshoe. Will was playing at cloudbase for the majority of his flight, it seemed, taunting me.
The three of us landed and were stoked with the day. I have not flown as many hours as last year, but have had a number of satisfying flights more than making up for the lack of airtime in 2010.
Maybe I should forget my camera batteries at the Owens in 2011!
Flight time: 1 hour, 6 minutes
Altitude: 3032' MSL