Trying to get in a flight before the rains on Sunday, I opted for a trip to McClure this weekend.
I stopped in Waterford along the way to pick up Brian Horgan, then we were on our way...a truckload of ACP's.
Conditions were looking promising, but there was a high cloud layer that blocked out the sunlight just long enough to make things a little more challenging. KM was first off, then everyone else punched off in due time. I decided to hang back once I saw a few people sinking out after about 45 minutes or so.
Then, the cycles started trickling up ever so lightly as the sun started to peek through the high cloud layer.
Once I was satisfied with my cycle I decided to launch and hooked a pretty decent, but light, thermal that got me about 500 to 700 above launch. My patience seemed to have paid off today. I worked what I could along the ridge line searching for birds thermaling and hovering over the rock masses for whatever lift I could find.
After about 25 minutes of flying I started to sink out and headed toward the LZ...
Unzipped, I started setting up my approach when I saw a red tail circling below me...good sign. I headed on over and, sure enough, there was lift to be had...what a lucky break. The red tail had chosen a nice light thermal above the LZ to hand to me, so I took it. Within about 10 turns, my feathered friend had climbed above me, but that was to be expected. I didn't take it personally and enjoyed the added 15 minutes of airtime the thermal gave me.
Within time, the lift topped out and conditions were back to light, so I headed on back to the LZ for a nice landing and a beer or two. The LZ party was great fun, and dinner afterward was fun, as well, with Will, Robert, Walter, Vikram, Pam, and KM.
I crashed in Glen's trailer at Shore Fun, then had breakfast in Coulterville with the locals. The rainy drive home was fun.
Blogs are so much better than Facebook...
Flight time: 37 minutes (I minute less than Walter!)