Monday, April 12, 2010

Ocala

By last Wednesday I was developing an itch to go sightseeing.  Jason wasn't going to fly and kindly offered to drive in exchange for gas and dinner.  I quickly accepted the offer and discussed the possibility of dinner in Ocala.  Aric and Mark jumped on-board and started pushing out with me around 1:00.

Several pilots from Quest Air were planning to also launch around 1:00 and I toyed with the idea of trying to catch them.  (A 20 mile head-start for them seemed fair.  ;-) ).  However despite our best intentions, I didn't launch until 2:00.  By that time Mike, Fellipe, Ken, and Tyson were also in the line up and we were all on the same radio frequency.  I had a reasonable initial climb to the southeast, but zoomed over to Mark after he released into a strong climb.  It was a bit bumpy at the top so we moved on even though Aric was just starting his initial climb.


It quickly became apparent the wind was more west-southwest than south as every climb drifted east.  I kept pushing west on glide and soon pulled away from Mark.  I was a few miles west of Quest Air when the rest of the gang arrived.  Although I was in good position, I ran back to fly with the gang.  Jason, who was on the ground nearby, reiterated his offer to drive retrieve.  Even though everyone else appeared to be heading back to Wallaby Ranch, I decided to check out the territory to the north.  As I dove into the blue I noticed Mark was also coming along for the trip.

Sharing a climb with Mark

We needed a climb as we approached the turnpike and we got one just when we needed it.  We crossed the trees to a convergence line forming around the lake to the east of Leesburg.  We shared another climb and continued to move on.  Mark found a thermal that provided me with a "beam me up Scotty" climb that Mark missed.  Bummer.  Mark pushed off to the west and eventually landed south of a large housing development.

I had ample altitude to float across but hunted a long time before finding a solid climb on the other side. I then flew west to hook up with the turnpike again.  By now, I could see the sea breeze pushing in from the west and got into the sweet lift piled up in front of it.


I climbed to over 5000 feet southeast of the Ocala airport.  There was a long line of clouds to the north-northeast that would have been easy to run, but I decided to land in Ocala as we previously discussed.


 Ocala airport in the upper right-center

Jason and Mark showed up a short time after I landed and we had a good meal in town before heading back to the ranch.  Thanks Jason for making the trip possible.

Flights: 1, Duration: 4:13, Distance: 78 miles

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