August 21st....

In search of the elusive "two thumbs up" it was my turn to run the tow rig.  Today's judges would be  Mia and Mike B (from Spokane).

We had a real mish-mash of weather forecasts with the only constant being they all agreed it was going to be hot (mid to upper 90's F).  To that end we decided to go with the NOA soaring numbers (Spokane Soaring Forecast ) that called for light winds (with a morning northerly) and good lift up 10,000asl.

Mia was ready to tow at 1pm and with a 5-10 mph north wind, we started from L-Roads mid point setup.  From midpoint, we don't have as much road as we like but there is the option to cross the highway for an additional 1 mile..... with Mia checking for traffic (our own "eye in the sky") I got clearance to cross the highway. Mia only used a few additional yards then pinned off into lift and was soon climbing out.  Mike also towed north but decided to pin off without making me cross the highway .  For his reward, he proceeded to immediately sink out!... Personally, I thought he was just trying to show off his low save skills as he saved his flight by doing some dirt tango at 580ft agl, connecting and climbing out. 

Both pilots drifted south, describing the air as broke but regularly breaking through 7000ft asl.  At about 20km out, the number improved to 8000ft+, all in the blue (no Q's). Mia was first to decide to cross to toward Farmer (In the mean time, Mike continued south to our JBSR turnpoint on top of the Beezly hills).  After having returned the tow rig to Mansfield I was dutifully pursuing my team around the course in our trusty air conditioned Jetta Diesel Wagon...

Both pilots picked their way back to the tow site in light broken condition, occasionally getting over 9000ft asl.  Of course, by the time they arrived back at L-Road, the nice smooth wind that had been blowing ALL day, had dropped to nothing (Light and Vacuum... and hot). Landing in these conditions is a real challenge but both Mia and Mike, after more then 4 hours each in the air, did admirable jobs pulling off clean "nose up" landings.  For there reward... both were immediately served ice cold Becks beer from the ice filled cooler!

Mia's 92km FAI Triangle and Mikes 107 km FAI Triangle

Mikes Video of his flight:

I think I earned myself the double thumbs up for service. To be safe I also tossed in a trip to Lake Chelan for an evening swim and bought everybody dinner... man they are a tough crowd to please! My happy campers: