Smothered

John, Rodger, and I talked about flying to the Canadian border as we drove to Morningside on Monday.  The 116 mile (186 km) flight seemed within our reach given the weather forecast of moderate south winds and strong lift.  Peter, who didn't want any part of a long retrieve, drove by himself and agreed to pick up Ryan on the way there.  Good forecast?  Check.  Driver?  Check.  Equipment ready?  Check.  It was going to be epic.

Yep, it was going to be an epic day, except for the thick smothering cirrus that peered over the horizon and the wind blowing from the southwest instead of the south.  It would have been OK with only one "issue".  However the combination was stifling since the territory northeast of Morningside features lots of trees with few LZs; not exactly terrain to be floating over low in weak lift.  However, we hoped for the best and decided to "give it a go".

Allen

John

Peter

Peter thinks we need new color schemes on our gliders.  I agree.

While us aero-jockeys played, Ryan was foot-launching and flying across the road.  Peter launched first and managed to find weak lift west of the field.  Rodger was next and found a good climb to the northeast.  John went next followed by Allen.  Since there was no one else to help launch, it was now my turn.  John, who released a bit too early, landed after a short flight and helped me launch.

The tow was surprisingly active; partly due to turbulence from a hill directly upwind and partly due to thermals.  Yeehaw!  Rhett dropped me off in a good climb directly over the bullseye at Morningside and I started screwing my way up.

Meanwhile Rodger was landing just east of Claremont, Peter was coming into land, John was taking his second flight, and Ryan was flying off the hill.  I captured some of the action.

I was over Rodger's LZ to the northeast when John announced he had a good climb south of Morningside.  Since I didn't like the terrain downwind, I decided to race back upwind to John.  I hit 3 good climbs that allowed me to come in over John.  Um, maybe the day wasn't so bad after all.

We played under dying clouds until I decided to strike out for better looking clouds on the Vermont side of the river.  I told John it was probably a "suicide run" and it was.  I got low and barely made it back to Morningside.

Cumulus development reignited when the smothering cirrus moved off around 4 PM.  Peter launched and found a good climb but struggled against the now stronger wind.  I quickly suited up but had to wait for Rhett to tow Steve up with a tandem passenger.  Once again, Rhett dropped me off in a climb, but with the winds at 18 mph (29 km/h) I had to quickly make a decision.  There were good looking clouds to the northeast over the trees, but I was only at 3300 feet (1000m) in a weak climb in the blue.  I decided to return for more altitude so I could start the trek across the forest near base.  The only thing I found was wind-induced turbulence once I got below 1500 feet (450m).

We were all a bit disappointed since our initial expectations for the day were so high.  Still, we enjoyed the break, safe challenging flights, and the company of friends.

Flights: 2, Duration: 1:05