August 7th, XC Skies (GFS, NAM, RAP), NOAA Soaring Forecast, Washington State DOT… heck even my best guess…. every forecast was wrong (or I guess you could say each forecast had just a tiny bit right?).
The big deal was the winds aloft. Everybody was calling for SE through SW….. nobody suggested what we got….NE. Especially NE up to 30km’s !
With Mia running the rig, Randy and I where to test the air. On the ground we knew something was up, there where dust devils and hawks soaring so Randy and I set up a plan to do a triangle up on top (the area around Mansfield). Randy cut his way in front of me and was first into the air. Short north tows are always a challenge but after a bit of scratch and a save back at setup he was up and away (drifting with strong NE wind). I followed shortly after and found the air to be rough and broken. The lift was here, there and everywhere but always broken. You would start to settle into a climb just to have it quit.
Randy was struggling today (and apparently expanding his vocabulary?). We met up down near Saint Andrews where he thrashing around the sky trying to climb. I was having a little less trouble but probably more a mater of luck then skill, I soon topped out just over 9000ft asl at Saint Andrews. Randy pushed a little further east as I pushed down to Dry Falls (Overlooking “Park Lake”).
Plenty of high cloud kept interfering with the normal daytime heating so it was a bit of a challenge to break through 6000ft asl. Plenty of times I found great big dust devils that produced nothing of any significance. It seemed you had to work and re-work an area and wait for it to punch you up to the next level. After a couple of hours Randy said he had enough of the ratty air and was going to head back to Mansfield (he promptly found an easy climb up over 8000 but was resigned to heading back). With the 15-20km NE veering more to the East over Hwy2 I kept clawing and kicking the ratty climbs and started to establish a more consistent altitude over 8000ft asl so I continued West to Waterville. On the West side of Jameson Coulee, the peak altitudes started to creep over 9000ft asl and by the time I arrived south of Waterville over Badger Mtn, I had climbed over 10,000. Despite the good heights, it remained a very odd day with plenty of high cloud blocking out the sun and strong E NE winds (now getting over 30kmph above 10,000ft asl).
With Randy landing back in Mansfield I pushed North to Dyer hill. At the top of McNeil Canyon I was getting a bit desperate as I was down below 6000ft and not liking the prospect. A lone tractor gave some inspiration to go with my perspiration (getting warm at the lower altitudes), the save took me up over my high point of the day (11,800ft asl). From here it was short side trip to Dyer hill (here is a picture of the Dyer hill area that was burnt and the new Antoine fire to the west):
Next, followed by a couple low nasty saves north of Mansfield (real hang on keel bangers) I was onto L- Road to close a 151km FAI triangle. Landing was in a fresh cut wheat field with ground crew, wind sock and cold drinks waiting. Not sure why, but I’m guessing the nasty air had me pumped up and I had kind of heat induced snit while breaking down…. as usual my crew ignored me… laughed at me…. hard to find good crew. Off to Park lake for a wonderful cool off dip (for the dip-sh##) and cruise back, arriving back up on top to another classic Mansfield Nuclear Sunset:
Randys Saint Andrews, Return flight , My 151km FAI triangle.
August 8th, Strong west winds so we bagged the day. Little projects here and there with gear and later a trip to Chelan to go swimming at Blue Lagoon then up to Brewster to visit a great little Mexican restaurant that we like to visit… another hard day (not looking forward to heading back to work next week!).
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