One That Almost Got Away

I almost missed out on a good day of flying Thursday Wednesday.  I was a bit sore and tired after the workout on Wednesday Tuesday and uninspired after seeing that the initial forecast for Thursday was a slightly mellower version of Wednesday's Tuesday's forecast.  I wasn't alone either.  Jason, Patrick, Christen, and I sat under the thatched roof and commented on all the other launches.  I think we would have sat there all afternoon if Mike hadn't strolled by with his glider and scolded us for sitting around on such a nice day.  As Mike walked away Patrick stood up and started walking to his glider.  I stood up and said "... and the lemmings jump" as Jason also managed to tear himself away from the deck chairs.

We launched after 3:00 PM, a couple hours after the pilots from Canada and Connecticut left.  We all had uneventful tows and started climbing immediately.  I ran over to join a stronger climb to the southeast of the ranch and was soon at cloud base.  Patrick asked "what are we doing" on the radio.  I answered "going south" and started gliding south along Route 27 for the third time in a week.  Unlike Wednesday's crosswind slog, the climbs were strong and smooth and the westerly component of the wind was much weaker as well.  I got a jump on Patrick and Jason with a couple back-to-back strong climbs and spent reminder of the day flying mostly by myself.

Patrick pointed out the smoke trails from the aerobatics show at Sun n' Fun in Lakeland.  I had a low save north of Lake Wales, but other than that it was a classic "climb and glide" kind of day with 600 fpm (3 m/s) climbs to 7000 feet (2100 m) and fairly flat glides.  I diverted to join some flex wings I caught up with around Avon Park but decided to return to my original course when they started heading in directions I didn't want to go.

Since we started late it wasn't too long before the day started to shut down.  I started a long glide into the blue over miles of non-land-able orange groves as Patrick was searching for an LZ in Lake Placid.  The glide was very buoyant and enjoyable.  I found a mellow climb over some pasture fields on the other side of the blue and slowed dribbled south along Route 27.  I decided to land north of Fisheating Creek in Palmdale.

I had a sweet approach and landing after 7:00 PM through almost still air into a large pasture.  I quickly broke down and finished just as the sun set.  Bill showed up shortly after dark with Patrick and another pilot who landed with Patrick.  We picked up Jason on the way back in Sebring well after dark before stopping for dinner.

We all owe Mike a thank-you for kicking out butts into gear!

Flights: 1, Time: 4:14, Distance: 87 miles