We awoke to blue skies over the Mansfield area and cumulous development surrounding the area. Looking off in the direction of the Chelan Butte, there was Q's that were based no higher then 4000asl.... and despite the strange looking conditions XC skies was advertising 8-9000 cloud base with light SW winds. As it turned out the cloud base was dead on. The winds on the other hand were a little stiffer then the 5-10 mph.
Nic Voss was our "Tow-Mister" for the day. Nic is an old time Hang Glider pilot (Nic, sorry about the "old" comment ;-) that has retired from flying but has regularly joined us in Mansfield to lend his services as our winch operator and enjoy some holiday time with old friends (Sun and Scotch). Today was his last day and with a turn for the better in the weather his services were very much appreciated.
The first Q's of the day gave away an obvious southwest wind and while a little on the low side things were looking good!
Nic towed me up first to test the waters and after a strong tow to 2000agl I pinned off into 500 up and was on my way west to Waterville. Unfortunately, Nic who had previously praised the performance of our tow line recovery chute.... suffered a bad chute and was forced to go for a walk... When a chute fails, you have a choice, try to drag it in (usually the death of the chute) or walk out to the towline end and remove the chute and go back to the rig and rewind till you can remount the chute ( not a pleasant task out in wild sage) . I was thankful Nic decided to walk but it did delay Mia's start which was about an hour and a half behind me. Oh well, the perils of towing.
In the air, my tip to Waterville was slow (measuring between 12 and 18 mph sw winds). Solid climbs and good cloud streets made the task doable. As I turned at Waterville, Mia was up and away and slowly working her way toward Withrow.
Mia's Lifts Off....
Meanwhile I pushed around the remainder of 128km FAI triangle.
Flying west of Dry Falls:
The day had a real edge to it with strong lift and bouncy spring-like air, It was cool... in fact cold!.. very strange for July 13th.
The late start for Mia made here decided to cut short her drive to the west and eventually both Mia and I landed back at L-Road with pretty strong winds (gusting 10 to 18 mph) and lots of activity.
Fortunately, Nic was right on que, and was there to assist breakdown (I get nervous handling the VR in strong winds... a helping hand is always welcome)
We ended the day with one last trip to Park Lake (for Nic's vacation) refreshments and a swim. Then back to Mansfield where Nic capped the evening off with a fantastic chicken dinner followed with our traditional Scotch.... wow... life is good.
Tomorrow is not looking good with another wave of "over the Cascades" weather. Still, its looking like there is still some potential over the next week.... fingers crossed.
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