One of those strange days yesterday. I crewed for Mia on what looked to be shaping up as an epic day. Blue skies in the morning, optimistic XC Skies forecast, manageable wind and best of all Q's popping in a wonderful pattern all over the plateau.... it appeared to be wonderful day in the works.
Unfortunately, things were not as they appear.
On my end of the rig, I could tell there was something missing. Normally on an active day you will have plenty of speed adjustments to accommodate lift and sink. Instead..... it was a lonnnnng smooth tow. Mia was well over 2000ft and trolling when the weaklink popped. Not a bump could be found and she was back on the ground. Second tow was much better and she pinned off at a 1000ft agl and this time managed a slow climb to 7500 asl.
Mia worked west to Mansfield (shared the air with a pair of sailplanes from Ephrata) but in the end, after a least a dozen times of going weightless, the "Fun Meter" was running low, decided to run back to the tow site and land. (Link to her flight)
With day ending early we had plenty of time to run to Park lake for a swim, beverages and bird watching. Looks like the next two days are going to suck. So it will be some more hang waiting. Thankfully we have plenty of summer and holidays left and we have the flexibility to move some dates.
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