For a change Mia and I decided to start the second session of our “Mansfield Encampment” on our own. We snubbed our normal house guests and opted for a few private days crewing for each other.
July 28th. Mia volunteered to go first as “tow-chief”. The weather was hot and blue, light winds and a weak soaring forecast. As we headed out to the tow site there were the usual number of dust devils stalking the local fields so it looked like there would be some reasonable lift. With a bit of a late start (for me), I was up and away after 1pm. A single tow made for a light day at the tow site so Mia was quickly back into Mansfield with the tow rig, switched vehicles for chase (into the XL7) and was only a few km’s behind has I worked my way SE to Dry falls for my first turn point. Lift was weak and broken, at least there was not too much sink on glides. After I made Dry Falls, I got into a bit of trouble over highway 2. Heading west, back near L-Road I had unsuccessfully chased 2 or 3 dust devils with no luck and was hanging onto my last chance when I was finally able to re-establish some height to seek out some better climbs. As usual, a little bit of suffering down here pays off with some nice climbs….. only to wander into the same trap again?
I had intended to go to Waterville but the slow climbs where starting to take their toll remaining soaring time for the day so I turned early (a few km’s east of Douglas) and headed north. Of course, having given up on the planned task, things improved. Heading north I watch a sailplane lower but climbing fast just west of Withrow. By the time I got there he had topped out and was heading east but I was thank full he had marked such a great thermal. I soon climbed to 9500ft asl in a nice smooth 1000 up and was inspired to try and salvage some of todays task. By now Mia had joined up with the chase vehicle and was directly below as I headed for my Dyer hill turn point. Staying high was easy with the air on the rim being very buoyant. I peaked over 10,000ft on several occasions so it was an easy trip up to Dyer hill then back to the tow site at L+13.
When I landed in 1 foot deep moon dust at our highway LZ, Mia was waiting with some cool refreshments (bottled water….. really 
) followed by a quick takedown, trip to the lake to reward my excellent ground crew and back home for steaks and Scotch.
My 138 km FAI triangle flight.
July 29th. Still blue and hot, today with some high thin cloud and some minor haze. Mia’s turn to tackle what looked like lighter air then the day before. Mia is flying her new ATOS VQ with its amazing sink rate…. something she was going to need today. Starting with her tow, Mia found the lift weak and broken. In the beginning, reaching 8000ft asl was high. To top it off, she had to contend with a 10-15 mph SW wind…. in light air made for a very hard day. It was a very hard slog to get all the way down to the gravel pits west of Farmer (with only one climb taking her near 10,000ft asl) when she decided that it was time to head back to the tow site (about the only time of day that I was not able to keep up with her as the tail wind made it easy for her to pass me in the chase vehicle heading back to Mansfield).
SE of Mansfield Mia staged her final battle to get back to the tow site. 3 times she dug out from less then 4000ft asl (ground is 2300) only to hit a late day wall between 5000 and 6000 ft. After loosing the third battle to get the altitude need to get back to the tow site, Mia decided that the freshly cut wheat field that I had found her and the thought of a cool dip in Park lake was enough to call it quits and land. On the ground, despite the lack of lift there was plenty of activity (winds gusting 5-20kms). As I called out wind conditions on the radio Mia set up her approach. She had lined up a perfect final when the bottom dropped out (a thermal passing through?), amazingly, she pulled off a perfect nose up, no step landing in what turned out to be next to no wind!
Again, as a team we had the glider in the bag and off to the lake in less then 30 minutes… tough day but I was proud of Mia’s effort on what was a very challenging day. Mia's hard fought 76km FAI triangle.
July 30th. Strange brew today. Early, 3-4 am in the morning some strange weather moved through. We woke up to blue skies with a band of upper Q’s. Often a sign that some instability had found its way into the stable air mass (and often the kind of weather that would lead to thunderstorms).
Mia crewed and and I flew. This time there was lots of activity at the tow site. So much, that I considered not flying (especially given that winds aloft where forecast to be over 15 mph). It calmed down enough at the tow site I decided to give it a try. The tow was STRONG, several times while under tow I was showing 1400ftpm up… thing is, normally you would pin off in that kind of air but every time I hit the strong lift I was in a poor position to release. One thing you don’t want to do to your tow operator, is release your towline with a bad recovery chute over rough terrain! Dragging 4000ft of towline out 4ft high sage in 90degree “F’n” heat, is not going to make you popular…. not recommended if the tow operator is the one cooking your next meal…. or worse….
Finally the combination of a clean drop zone, strong lift inspired me to release, “pop”….. out comes a good clean chute and the towline was on its way back to the truck and I was heading for the sky at 500ftpm. At first the air seemed smooth but for sure there was a strong south wind that I was going to need to deal with. Fortunately a plan presented itself. Good Q’s where forming up over the tow site and a good solid street was forming to the West running from Pearl hill (near Chief Joseph Dam) all the way down to Waterville. I left the tow site heading straight north to Pearl hill (25-30kms) and joined up under this beautiful cloud street. Mind you, it was a beautiful cloud street with an attitude! The air was rough, strong lift that was broken and unpredictable. Base was near 11,000 and I regularly pulled out of lift at 10,000 choosing to press on to Waterville staying well clear of the clouds.
My intended turn point was Waterville. Unfortunately, the street fizzled out well short and diving into the blue is often risky on a day where clouds are present….. today proved no different. Before long I was below 5000ft asl and hanging onto to every bug fart I could find . The only positive thing was the fact near Waterville the winds had shifted west and I was able to push my southerly distance enough that I was able to allow myself to drift toward my next turn point (Dry Falls). As I mentioned earlier, this place seems to reward your efforts…. my struggle soon allowed me some freedom to do a little more searching and soon It was back up over 9000ft asl for an easy crossing of Jameson Coulee (under the still intact cloud street). From here it was back into the blue (yikes)…. and just like before the lift took a holiday. By now I had enough of the rough air and turned short of Dry Falls and headed back north to the tow site just east of Saint Andrews. Here, the winds were back to a southerly heading and with a few short climbs I was able to drift my way home to the tow site in rough trashy air. Mia was waiting with a wind sock, weather information on the radio, cooler full of beverages and a chuffer driven ride to Park lake to sooth some nerves frazzled by the days challenging air. Life is good (and my ground crew even better!) My 140km FAI triangle.
No comments:
Post a Comment