Keep Going

A serious lack of drive infected the pilots at Wallaby Ranch on Thursday.  We were sitting around the picnic tables in the cool shade of the oak trees when we normally would have been flying.  Finally Felipe ignited the fire when he stood up and declared "It is time to fly".  Without argument, everyone, including the tug pilots, stood up and walked to their aircraft.

Although I was soon in the air, I apparently wasn't prepared since I was turning on my camera, turning up the volume on my flight computer, and setting a waypoint back to Wallaby Ranch while on tow behind Paul.

I was late getting off for a thermal we plowed through around 1200 feet (365 m), but circled back for the climb.  Except it wasn't there.  I headed back for another tow and stumbled into a strong but tiny thermal at 400 feet (122 m) downwind of the launch line.  I clawed my way out of the hole I dug for myself.

I drifted a couple miles to the northwest when I noticed Jason climbing over the field.  Once again, I had trouble finding the climb as Jason "topped out".  He wanted to know what "the plan" was for the afternoon but no one answered.  He pushed upwind while I floated up to Jim, who was interested in flying to Sheets Airfield to the northwest, had a driver, and invited me along.  He didn't have to ask twice!

We glided on course to the northwest and noticed Felipe high above us doing the same.  I was fascinated with a fire off course line that was topped with a cloud and asked if Jim wanted to add a barbecue flavor to his glider.  He was game so off we went to investigate.

The fire was big and filled the sky with smoke.  Much to my surprise, Jim drove right into the smoke disappearing from sight below me.  He must really like that smokey flavor.

Jason, who was a climb behind valiantly tried to catch us but landed just upwind of the fire.  He had a fine landing, but landed next to a dirt road that didn't connect to the public road on the other side of the large field.  I didn't envy his hike out, but at least he was able to "short-circuit" the hike by sliding under a fence.

After flying with an eagle in the fire we glided off to our goal.  I found a strong climb in the haze over the center of the field and suggested we climb out, push upwind to Seminole-Lake Gliderport, and turn back if we can't make it.  Jim was ok with the updated plan to keep going.  Felipe, who took a path that didn't include fires, joined us over the airfield.

We pushed upwind stopping for a rowdy climb before diving for Seminole.  I was preparing to land when I sniffed out a strong snaky thermal just to the west of the runway.  Felipe came in low below me and snagged it.  Jim was too far away, missed the climb, and landed at the glider port.

I got high and waited for Felipe before I kept going on towards the ranch.  I initially had a very good glide to the east-southeast but decided to fly a direct line back so I could possibly skip a climb and keep over large LZs.  I chose poorly and was soon struggling down low once again.  Felipe, who was behind me, wanted no part of that and continued to the east and was spared the spanking.

My flight computer showed I had the ranch by 200 feet, but if the glide didn't work, I would be landing the in the infamous "spike field".  (The "spike field" is a large grass field armed with tall abandoned sprinkler pipes once used to spray orange trees from above.)  Instead of risking an exciting landing I flew south of Dean Still Road and landed in a huge pasture field among some docile cattle.

Felipe made it in and the recently rescued Jason picked me up shortly after I finished packing.  It was fun pushing our goal one step further until we landed.

Flights: 1, Duration: 3:10, Distance: 47.7 miles

Top Dog

Hands-down the top-dog for a good time is Santino.

Although post-frontal, the winds were light, the skies blue, and the lift questionable yesterday.  Most of us work on little projects and drifted out to the launch line around 2:00.  I was fourth to leave the ground behind Paul.  We plowed through a thermal around 800 feet, but given the blue skies I wanted more altitude.  After a couple turns in lift Paul waved me off and up I went.

Felipe, Mike, and I topped out at a dirty inversion east of Wallaby Ranch.

Felipe and Mike took off for the south while I flew upwind to a climb that John marked.

I spent about an hour taking video of how my sail behaves while thermaling, gliding, and stalling.  I also played with long lift lines created when thermals drifting in the lighter westerly wind (5 mph) was sheared south by a stronger northerly wind (13 mph) around 4700 feet.  I was easy to string together 1 to 2 mile glides whenever I cross one of these lines.  Very sweet.

I was watching what I thought was a different air mass move in from the west.  The air mass was much hazier and I watched it drift across the Green Swamp, then Route 33, and then even closer.  I was convinced it was a sea breeze pushing in.  (A sea breeze is very similar to a cold front which increases lift in front of it but makes landing "interesting" as it passes).

I decided to land and flew around at warp speed to lose my 5000 feet.  The field was very active with the flags dancing around but patience was rewarded with a consistent light west breeze when I landed.

I later found out from Dave, who flew south along Route 33, that the "air mass" I saw was just smoke from a large fire in the swamp.  Sigh.  Oh well, I got my fix for the day and had lots of video to review.

Flights: 1, Duration: 1:27

Whimper

A cold front was forecasted to move through on Wednesday, so everyone took a welcomed break to knock off some chores.  The front barely made it through the area with a whimper before dissipating.  I snapped a shot of a cu-nim to the north.

Tale of Two Towers

Tuesday's forecast looked great for a long sightseeing trip to the north.  However, other than Jason, no other pilots wanted to deal with the hassle of a long retrieve.  Furthermore I couldn't find a driver that wanted to spend the afternoon stuck driving my car.  So I latched onto everyone else's plan to push upwind to Bok Tower to the south and then return to Wallaby Ranch.

I launched first and released into a non-productive thermal.  Meanwhile, Jason launched and was dropped off in a better climb upwind.  I slid in under him and began an earnest climb to cloud base.  Jason topped out and headed on course to the south.  He sniffed around quite awhile before latching onto a thermal which he left just as I joined him.  We pushed upwind looking for our next refill, but got lower and lower.  We hunted together and found a thermal wanna-be over a shopping center south of Route 4, just beyond a glide back to launch.  Aric joined us as we sort-of-climbed but mostly just drifted back north.  I was ready to return when Aric dove forward.  I swung around and plowed ahead until I was low and desperate for a climb.  I found a ratty little snake over a housing development that gave us some breathing room.  Meanwhile Jason was not so lucky and was fighting to stay off the ground.  I noticed he was hitting strong little cores so I flew in his direction when I bumped into a strong climb that rocketed Aric and I to base, but put Jason on the ground.

Meanwhile, the gang back at the field were having second thoughts about the day's task given our "stellar" performance.  We could have used a couple jugs of syrup to go with all the waffling I heard on the radio.  It was like listening to standup comedy!  Eventually, the group changed the task to the Citrus Tower and back.  We would be initially heading north instead of south and I already was a couple climbs behind since I was south of launch.

I worked my way back to the ranch, shared a strong climb with Paul and captain Mick, and started the task after everyone else left.  I pushed hard, caught up with Al, Mike, and Tyson, and then tagged the tower before them.  Mike and I had a bit of lead on the others and flew out over a large lake looking for a climb.  (I know, it sounds counterintuitive.)  Mike out climbed me and left while I was still tanking up on altitude.  Mike drove upwind, got low, and had to take a slow climb to stay airborne.  I passed him high above only suffer the same fate.  Sigh.

Hazy view of the southern large lake.

I pushed west to a forming line of clouds that paid off with a good climb.  Mike joined me a bit lower as we finally made some progress towards home.

Climbing with Mike

I had to skip any weak climbs since I would lose too much ground in the southerly headwind.  I noticed a vigorous cloud even further west and "bet the house" that it would provide a quick climb.  It did and I got jump on Mike and the rest of the gang.

I headed straight for the ranch and stopped for one more climb over a recently burned forested area before arriving first back at the ranch.  Mike arrived soon after and Tyson and Al a while later.  Aric and Felipe landed just short of the ranch after valiant struggles.

I originally wanted to spend the day exploring new countryside, but as Mike pointed out, the challenge of flying upwind provides its own unique rewards.

Flights: 1, Duration: 3:27, Distance: 53.6 miles

Flying Around The Bok

The good weather continues.  The forecast for Monday looked great for a run from the Florida Ridge north.  With Fay stirring the pot, Mike and I decided to "take a stab" at flying to the Ridge yesterday and then fly back (or further) today.  Although the numbers didn't "add up" for the trip south, I was game for a go.  I even packed my toothbrush and a clean shirt in the harness.

Mike launched first behind Paul and I was second a few minutes later behind Fay.  I pinned off in a good climb that slowly turned into a mass of rising but unorganized air.  I wallowed around far below cloud base before moving south on course to Interstate 4.  Moments later I was struggling just to stay in the air as Jason was reporting great lift back at Wallaby Ranch.  Sigh.

I eventually climbed out only to find that Mike was now low and struggling over Davenport, east of our course line.  I decided having a flying buddy was better than a climb or two lead and flew over to join him.

After our "low scares" we shifted into conservative mode which didn't mode well for a long flight to the south.  However the flying was fun, mentally challenging but not "finger biting" dramatic.  We picked our way south to Haines City staying high.  When faced with a big blue hole north of Lake Wales, I decided to dive across while Mike faded east to a line of clouds skirting the hole.  His choice didn't work out well and I got a jump on him with a strong climb north of the mall.

We both knew the Ridge was just a dream at this point, so I flew west of course line to join a sailplane and to take some pictures of skydivers at the Lake Wales airport.

Mike suggested tagging Bok Tower and then returning home.  Sounded like a great plan to me since we didn't have a driver.

I was about 5 miles due west of the tower when Mike tagged the turn point putting him a climb ahead.  He radioed he was going to follow a line of developing clouds to the east which I decided to do as well after tagging the turn point.  His decision was spot-on.  I ran into a vacuum cleaner that was sucking up birds, bugs, leaves, and one happy pilot.  I shared several turns with an immature bald eagle before diving for the edge of the cloud.

The return trip was a cake-walk.  I flew along at base arriving back at the Ranch at 5000 feet (1500m) with only two brief stops.

I wasn't done for the day so I flew north towards to the intersection of route 27 and 474 to meet Jason who was finishing up a task he and Tyson flew.  After that I floating around the Ranch in the smooth glass off before spiraling down to land with a no-stepper in calm air.

Today does look like a killer day to fly from the Ridge north, but who can complain after all the flying we're doing.

Flights: 1, Duration: 3:57, Distance: 56.2 miles