It was a fun day. Earlier was actually better for general flying as
there was abundant thermalling activity from 11:15 (when we got there) until
around 2:00pm. The cycles were varying from south to east. There was
a fair amount of wind at launch but the ridge lift was not sustainable.
After 2:30pm it started to get more windy with bigger gusts and lots of sink out
front. There was some soaring after this time but the wind at launch was
obviously not indicative of the air away from launch. Ridge lift was still
not sustainable which was a continuing sign of the somewhat weird air. Gradually
pilots cleared out of the skies with just a few in the air and Harrison
exhibiting stellar glider handling skills when few were still even contemplating
a launch. Eventually it was a one man show with Jon Malmberg performing
all kinds of stunts on his smaller wing to amuse us pilots who had recently
resigned ourselves to the ground for the latter portion of the afternoon.
After Jon landed the rain to the south and west was looming ominously in the
distance so we resorted to food and beverages in Hood River. Lift was a
little tough to come by down low but above 1700 feet it seemed easier with
larger bands of thermals. I think David Le got the highest at over 4200
ASL and was able to soar at high altitudes down the ridge over the windmills
during a flight that lasted over an hour. David also had the best low
save: He was just about at road level near the gully as I announced over
the radio that I would get him a beer if he made it back to top land.
Within 5 seconds he started going up and less than a minute later he was
comfortably over launch (beer help piloting skills
). In the early
afternoon there was lots of flying and some students had there first flights in
spicier thermals. Many pilots landed out at bail out LZs, some top landed,
others got high and were able to sustain altitudes for a long time on
thermals. My flight was also over an hour but I know David got higher than
me because we were thermalling together then went our separate ways in search of
the beast thermal at 4200 feet (my highest point), whereupon David went up and I
went down. Other pilots were able to thermal pretty high also but that was
really the only way to get high. The air was pretty deceiving all day as it did
not ever seem like the wind at launch gave any kind of indication as to what
would happen 5 seconds after you got off launch. Overall it was great
practice at staying up in highly thermic conditions!