Florida Ridge (Day 2)

I got up early this morning to setup my glider for some measurements before the wind started to blow.  I was just packing it back up at 8:15 when the wind starting to reach the ground.

The conditions were acceptable when the safety committee met around 10:30 AM, but we were worried what conditions would be like by 2:00 PM since the tug pilot for the early morning tows reported conditions similar to yesterday.  We decided to send Zak up on a scouting mission.

Zak report a lot of turbulence in the bottom 500 feet (150 m) and a very busy tow.  We had just cancelled the day when Steve returned from another tow and thought the conditions were fine.  Some pilots started rigging gliders although the day had been cancelled.  After the gusts and baseline speed rebuilt and nearby airports reported gusts to 28 mph (45 k/h), we called a pilots meeting and officially cancelled the day.

After a quick lunch we gathered some "vintage" gliders and headed to the beach for beach soaring.  We setup 3 gliders and man-towed pilots up in front of a vacant hotel.

I had a nice flight, many pilots had their first coastal soaring flight, and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Here is a short video of Dustin and Zak playing around.