Rodger and Jeff C met at my place before heading to fly at West Rutland two weekends ago. The weather looked good, but after a sled ride and a rain-out at my previous two visits I was still a little apprehensive. We talked about XC flying on the drive north. Jeff talked about his short flops over the back on a trip to Valle de Bravo but had yet to "cut the strings" in New England. We described the open fields to the north of West Rutland and encouraged him to head out if he felt comfortable. We met Dennis and Ryan at the base and talked about retrieval arrangements on the way up the mountain so we were covered for some XC flying.
Launch was decorated with piles of colorful cloth, the setup area was sprouting hang gliders, and the wind was blowing in nicely when we arrived on top. Pilots continued to stream in, including Carolina and Eric from Wallaby Ranch in Florida, pilots from the Ellenville New York area, and locals I haven't seen yet this season. It was a first-class social scene.
John G launched first with his paragliding tandem passenger and started soaring after sinking a bit below launch level. A couple more paraglider pilots and John S in his ATOS stepped into the air and all were climbing out. Since the number of pilots needing to use launch was growing by the minute and it was already soarable, I excused myself from the mountaintop small talk and got in line to launch. When my turn came, I walked up to launch, sized things up, ran, started flying, took a couple "S" turns, and was soon circling to cloud base; I wish it was always that easy! It was tough returning to the ridge when the two paragliders (Caju and Van) I just shared the climb with took off towards a sweet line of clouds downwind, but I wanted to fly with Dennis and Rodger since neither had flown in that direction before.
I spent the next hour cruising the valley waiting for my flying buddies to get up so we could go exploring. I could see the crowded ridge below sprinkled with hang gliders and paragliders, but no one was getting exceptionally high. I kept myself busy by exploring the other side of the valley, "shadowing" John S as he came back low after investigating the surrounding countryside, and by amusing Ryan with my unanswered pleas for someone to leave the mountain.
I finally got a call back from Dennis saying he was ready to leave even though he wasn't at cloud base. I was relatively low across the valley but encouraged him to go and that I would catch up. (That's the racer's arrogance speaking! ;-) ) I zipped back to the ridge and immediately started climbing at 400 - 500 fpm on my way there. I kept waiting to fall out the other side but never did. I noticed a couple HG pilots doing their best blender imitation to my right, a couple PG pilots turning flat circles ahead of me, and 3 novice HG pilots doing their best to maintain a simple circle to my left all climbing at the same rate. Cool. The entire valley was releasing and all ships were rising, no matter what they were doing. I told Dennis I would soon be on the top floor and then cruised around climbing at 400 fpm looking for Rodger. I did a big wing over in front of him, pointed downwind, and started heading for the edge of the cloud. As I plowed through the wisps at the edge I looked back and saw Rodger following and to my left and saw Jeff. Sweet.
I told Jeff the next cloud looked good and that the fields below and in front of us were good LZs. That was all the coaxing he needed; he was leaving. Although I thought the cloud in front looked good, it was dying by the time we got there. Rodger and I scouted around looking for remnants, but there really weren't any. I felt bad for Jeff, another good climb would allow him to reach the really open area where the Rutland valley meets the Champlain valley. I glided across the valley to a large complex of clouds that provided a cushy smooth 200 fpm climb that allowed me to watch the show on the other side. Although I wrote him off, Jeff wasn't ready to land yet. He found bits and pieces of climbs that allowed him to keep going. He then found a slow climb not far from the quarry and settled in. Dennis caught up with someone but wasn't sure who it was. He said the pilot had an "ugly" colored harness and Jeff assuredly announced it must be Rodger! Ouch.
I tried waiting, but my climb was turning into sink so I pushed on. I noticed that it just wasn't my cloud that was drying up, all the clouds were fading away. Although it was late afternoon, it was too early for the day to shutoff due to the lack of sunshine. I thought it must be the predicted warm air moving in and suppressing thermal development. I needed a couple climbs but set the small airport at Middlebury as my goal. It was fairly easy getting there, but I doubt I would have gone much further given how quickly the sky turned blue.
Jeff continued until he ran out of LZs just south of Brandon Vermont. He landed next to an ambulance service and was given a big bottle of water to keep hydrated with. An excellent first New England XC! Rodger made it a bit further and landed close to a restaurant where he cooled off with a beer after breaking down. Dennis eventually landed in a field next to a factory in the same town I did. I also had a comfy LZ, complete with windsock, a pilot's lounge, a soda machine, shade, and company. I briefly spoke to the person rebuilding a Dragonfly that someday might be towing hang gliders in Vermont. I also took pictures of wildflowers as I waited for the gang to show up.
The truck arrived but one too many people stepped out! They found Van, one of the PG pilots that took off early, in Salisbury Vermont. After we tossed my equipment on and squeezed into the truck we drove back sharing stories and the excitement of a fun flying day. We continued the flying "lies" while we had dinner in Rutland with a few other pilots before starting the long drive home.
Time: 2:12, Distance: 25.5
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