Southern Arizona Hang Glider Association
Jerry, Guido, and I met in the Lz at 9 am and were up at the lower launch shortly after 10am. Jerry set up first, just as some light cycles were starting to develope. Jerry had a picture perfect reverse launch into a light cycle and a great flight to the Lz. His kiting skills really showed and his flight was great (well all but the landing - he stumbled a little).
Then Guido launched, also a great reverse launch into a light cycle. He flew a little bit longer as the thermals were just starting to develope. However he had a twig caught in the D's a which slightly deformed/pulled down on the back of his wing and he decided it was best to land.
By 11am I launched and by this time the thermals were starting to kick. They were getting stronger with sharp edges. Initially after a short gain I hit sink to below the fence line when I hit another strong thermal which took me back up above the lower launch. Eeventually I flew out over the Lz and spiraled down.
On another note, do we still have any other PG pilots in this club? Seems like nobody shows up to fly anymore even on weekends for glass-offs except on a rare occasion. (Except Jerry and Guido). I think it 's a real shame to have such an inactive PG flying group!
Gunter
Box Report for Sat. morning
Moderators:ioan, John Wolfe, aaroncromer, jlowery
Saturday afternoon HG
Chuck Park, Mark Sawyer, Eric Smith and I headed down to Box in the afternoon. We drove up to launch around 3 and even though it was pretty hot out Eric and I were ready to fly by 4:30 (feeling not-quite-current, Chuck elected not to fly).
Eric was test-flying Mark's Formula, Julie Ann, which had just been gussied up with new side wires. He punched off in a nice, deep, 10-15 cycle and worked his way up in ridge lift until he found a little thermal, and found as he worked it that it got better as it went higher. I took off in similar conditions, benched up and found a nice thermal that just kept on going.
The surprising thing today was how mellow it was. The lift was big and smooth, and went stinkin' high. Eric topped out at 14500, and I got to 11500 before losing my ride. By this time I was well over the back and headed towards the LZ. Eric set off to explore the south side of Box Canyon, all the way back to the west side of the ridge.
The lift, although big and smooth wasn't exactly everywhere, and after 45 minutes I flew through pretty consistent sink from Hwy 83 where I lost my last thermal back to the LZ at the Meadow. Eric was kind of low, 8500 or so, over Box Canyon working his way back for the second time but found enough lift to get safely back to the Meadow.
Nice day. It had even cooled off in the LZ so it was a lot more comfortable breaking down than it was setting up. Many thanks to Mark and Chuck for doing the wire crew thing and driving the truck down.
John
Eric was test-flying Mark's Formula, Julie Ann, which had just been gussied up with new side wires. He punched off in a nice, deep, 10-15 cycle and worked his way up in ridge lift until he found a little thermal, and found as he worked it that it got better as it went higher. I took off in similar conditions, benched up and found a nice thermal that just kept on going.
The surprising thing today was how mellow it was. The lift was big and smooth, and went stinkin' high. Eric topped out at 14500, and I got to 11500 before losing my ride. By this time I was well over the back and headed towards the LZ. Eric set off to explore the south side of Box Canyon, all the way back to the west side of the ridge.
The lift, although big and smooth wasn't exactly everywhere, and after 45 minutes I flew through pretty consistent sink from Hwy 83 where I lost my last thermal back to the LZ at the Meadow. Eric was kind of low, 8500 or so, over Box Canyon working his way back for the second time but found enough lift to get safely back to the Meadow.
Nice day. It had even cooled off in the LZ so it was a lot more comfortable breaking down than it was setting up. Many thanks to Mark and Chuck for doing the wire crew thing and driving the truck down.
John