Warm Up

I was the first to launch Thursday afternoon in building conditions.  I was planning to test out minor modifications and gather more data about my glider's performance problem.  Kerry hooked me onto Steve and away we went.

The air was active with strong rowdy thermals blasting skyward.  I pushed upwind to the south and played around at cloud base over the sugar cane fields.

Larry and Patrick eventually joined me as the day continued to get better.

Larry

We flew to the end of our tether (positive glide back to the Florida Ridge) at about 10 miles (16 km) before turning around.  We raced back at base without turning.  In fact we had to divert several times to avoid flying into the clouds.

I was ready to land and intended to burn off altitude by cruising over to where the paraglider pilots were launching.

Dave launching on Wednesday

I arrived back at the flight park higher than I left.  After spinning up in another strong climb ripping off the field, we all started spiraling down to avoid heavy rain approaching from the west.  I landed in "active" conditions and then headed to the pool to cool off before the drenching began.

Many pilots showed up yesterday in preparation for the meet that starts on Saturday.

Flights: 1, Duration: 2:23